Kwami
by Xanatos Stones
Summary: A question. Why were the Kwami created? What was their purpose? Who made them? What were they originally designed to do? What happens when Adrian and Marinette discover just how over their heads they truly are? When they find out what the Kwami were originally created to fight.
1. Chapter 0: Prologue

Hello. My name is Xanatos Stones, and after several years of relative inactivity, I have decided to pick up a new fanfic based on a couple of ideas I had when watching Ladybug Origins. Hope you enjoy.

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 **Prologue**

Gabriel Agreste was a man of stature. He was known for never losing his cool, and always remaining in control. He always stood straight and confident, acting with a dignified grace that often gave off an aura of superiority. It didn't matter who you were, there was no man alive who was not cowed when faced with a displeased glance from this man. At the moment, however, his eyes were reflecting something that no living being had ever seen there, doubt and uncertainty.

It was a look that would never, no… _could_ never allow anybody to see on his face. Not his employees, not his son, and certainly not the kwami that was already very displeased with his master. It wouldn't do for that bug to figure out that he actually had any weaknesses. But in his room alone, he allowed himself to come unraveled. He'd messed up. He'd messed up dreadfully. And now, for the first time in _decades_ , he was at a loss as to how he should react.

He leaned against his closet door, head pressed into it as if to hide from the world for a moment. As if it gave him some privacy from the world that had been so suddenly, and violently, thrust out of his control… again. Everything had been going so well. He'd been convinced that his quest was finally nearing its close.

Sure, it may have looked to the outside world like he wasn't getting anywhere, like he was simply being foiled over and over again. What they didn't know was that he hadn't yet _expected_ to win. Sure, he'd hoped he would each time. But he hadn't expected it. He had been carefully, slowly, steadily, closing a net around his opponents.

Each defeat had allowed him to learn specific details about his opponents, facts that would allow his endgame to be indomitable. Their teamwork, personalities, flaws, each hints that got him closer and closer to unmasking their true identities. He'd even been able to ascertain, through numerous experiments, that Ladybug was attending the same school as Adrian.

"Darn it!" He slammed his fist against the wall in exasperation. But Adrien _was_ Cat Noir. All this time, he had been fighting his _son!_ How exactly was he supposed to treat this new piece of information? How was he supposed to protect both his son _and_ get the Cat Noir miraculous?! And make no mistake, if he was going to protect his son, he _needed_ the ultimate power that came from getting his hands on both Miraculous. Because this was bigger than his son, or his partner in the red pajamas, knew.

He'd kept what happened to Adrian's mother a secret, had said she 'disappeared', but that was a downright lie. Adèle Agreste hadn't simple disappeared. She'd been murdered. It had killed him to hide the evidence, killed him to lie to the police, but of all killed him to lie to Adrian. He knew, no matter what Adrian said, that there was still that slimmer of hope his mother might return some day. Gabriel knew differently.

His wife had been a superhero, although one that stayed mostly in the shadows. That washow Kwami-based superheroes had always done their jobs. Being in the limelight like Adrian and this Ladybug were… that wasn't how they typically operated. Then again, from the way those two behaved, he was fairly certain nobody had taught them almost _anything_ about the rules of being Kwami-based superheroes.

If the powerful being that had managed to murder his wife was still out there, and Gabriel was pretty certain he was, the Cat Noir and Ladybug team that could barely handle a Hawkmoth would be crushed in an instant. And Adrien was Cat Noir. Adrein was a target. Being Cat Noir didn't make him safer. It painted a giant bullseye on his back!

But what was _he_ supposed to do about it? He was honestly at a loss. Was he supposed to keep beating down the very boy he wanted to protect until he had crushed him?! Adrian was too stubborn, too self-willed, too hungry for adventure. There was no way he would _ever_ get that ring from Adrian without doing exactly that. For the first time in his life, Gabriel Agreste had no idea what choice to make.

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Whelp. There's the prologue. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you like, please leave a comment or reply because your words mean so much to me. Peace out.

~ Xanatos Stones


	2. Chapter 1: Unanswered Questions

Hello, and welcome to the first official chapter of Kwami. I hope you enjoy.

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 **Chapter One: Unaswered Questions**

Adrien Agreste dug through his rectangular, blue and grey book bag frantically. Where in the world had that book gone? It was the third time he'd searched, but he really couldn't think of anywhere else it could possibly have been. The last time he'd had it was shortly before meeting Lila in the library, but he had _definitely_ put it in his bag afterwards.

A small black cat like creature, Adrien's tiny magical companion, Plagg, was flying around Adrien's head, looking into the bag half-hazardly. "It's not there," he repeated for what must have been the hundredth time, in his nonchalant slightly high-pitched and squeaky voice.

"I _know_ that," Adrien said, as he turned his backpack upside down and dumped everything out on the floor again. He wasn't sure what was more important – putting that book back before his dad found it _OR_ figuring out what it was his father knew. There was one thing that was abundantly clear. His father was no ordinary man, especially if he could read whatever that ancient code was.

And… His eyes widened. "Plagg, come with me. Now!" Adrien whispered, taking that stern attitude he only had when he was dreadfully serious. Plagg did a circle through the air, making it clear he wasn't in any kind of hurry, and the look Adrien shot him made him smirk. He did, however, slip into Adrien's jacket. Adrien slipped from his room, looking around to make sure Nathalie and the Gorilla weren't around.

Nathalie was his father's, Gabriel Agreste, secretary. She was also the person responsible for Adrien's daily routine. She had a strict schedule that she ensured he followed day after day, and until he had started attending school a little over a year before, she'd pretty much felt like his master. Not that he hadn't rebelled… a lot… but she had an iron will that refused to be broken. At the same time, Adrien knew that she really did care deeply about him.

There wasn't nearly as much to say about the Gorilla. He never spoke, and rarely acted unless he believed Adrien was in some form of danger. Despite the fact that he shadowed Adrien much of the day, pretty much every day, it was a little awkward for him to admit that he knew next to nothing about the guy. For instance, what he did when he _wasn't_ towering over Adrien.

Neither of them were in sight, and Adrien made his way silently down the giant balustrade in the center of his living room. The house was gigantic, with marble pillars and metal black doors with white patters resembling a sun with beams of light shooting off in thin lines.

He kept his head down so that he could avoid looking at the picture of him and his father that was almost 10 foot tall and on the back wall of the mansion, directly behind him as he headed down the stairs. No matter how many times he saw that picture, the stern look on his father's face, and his resigned expression, it never ceased to bother him.

Adrien stopped at the bottom of the staircase and immediately turned to the left. His father's office was there, but Gabriel was out of town at the moment. Nathalie was supposed to be running a few errands, but he wasn't sure when she was getting back, or if she already had. If she had, he was going to have to find some way to get her to leave.

The room that he had walked into one probably the most unique room in his house. He was pretty sure nobody he'd ever met had a room quite like this one in their home. One on wall was a giant frame with a few of his best modeling pictures hanging from the wall. There was one with him in a sweatshirt, another leaning against a tree. Three were in black and white. His father had hung them there and liked to boast about them to anybody who happened to enter his house. Well… anybody he respected, that is. Anybody else he'd just have thrown out.

In the middle of the room was a pedestal made from clear, double-layered glass. A small staircase, of only about four steps, made with the same style of glass led up to it. A circular pole was in the middle of that, a spot where Gabriel liked to hang whatever piece of clothing he was working on at the moment.

Against the far wall was another pole where a dress that had hung that he had just finished designing for Adrien's mother. She'd vanished a couple of days later, never even having a chance to try it on. Near this dress was the counter where Nathalie typically worked. As luck would have it, there was nobody there.

"Why are we here?" Plagg asked, coming out of the jacket as soon as they knew the coast was clear. Adrien didn't respond, heading straight over to a giant painting against the back wall. This one was of his mother, though even he found the drawing a little strange. His mom had always been into bizarre art styles though.

The top of the picture started normally, with a near perfect drawing of her face and hair. But from there the painting got weird. Her dress divulged into a strange mixture of patterns and eyes that looked like they had been taken off a set of hieroglyphics. The background was varying patterns flowing in and out of one another.

"Mom," Adrien said, his voice full of longing for his missing parent. He set his hand on the painting and looking up at her face as he spoke. "I don't know where you are, or what happened to you. I don't know why you haven't come home yet, or if you ever will. But… I just wanted you to know… I miss you." Then he turned his attention back to the mission at hand, reached over and slid one half of the giant painting from the wall to reveal a safe. "Plagg, open it."

Plagg raised an eyebrow at Adrien. "I thought you _didn't_ want me to open the safe?" He said with a smirk.

Adrien shot him a look. "Now is _not_ the time, Plagg. Open the safe."

Plagg shot him an annoyed expression in return. "Ok. Ok. But _you_ owe _me_ some Camembert, got it?" Before waiting for Adrien's reply, he slipped inside and opened the safe. As the safe's door swung open, Adrien's eyes immediately went to the item in question he had wanted to double check.

There was a small brooch with nine feathers on it, and a glowing jewel in the middle. He simply stood and stared at it for a moment, wishing more than ever before that he was still holding his father's book. Because he could have sworn… "Plagg," Adrien said, his emotions unreadable, "tell me. Is that thing a Miraculous?"

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Marinette stared at the old Chinese man sitting in a front in Indian style in front of them. Her first thought was _It's the doctor I brought Tikki to!_ Her second thought, however, was more of a realization. When she'd seen the doctor earlier that year, she'd had this weird feeling of Déjà Vu, as if she'd met him somewhere before. But the realization that he was connected to the Kwami jogged a memory that had seemed at the time insignificant, especially considering everything else that had happened those two days.

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Marinette raced out onto the street in front of her family's bakery holding a small box of cookies that her parents' had made for her to bring to school on her first day. The bakery was in a simple two story building where the bottom floor was the bakery, and the top floor, through a trap door, was her room. The second floor of the building was plain white, but the bottom floor's walls were mostly windows.

Three large archway shaped windows, to be exact, with a symbol of a grain stalk in golden colored paint drawn on each. It was something Marinette and her father had spent quite a long time on a couple years prior. On the window directly to the left of the front door was written the words, 'CONFISERIE' and 'MACARONS CHOCOLAT CARAMEL IT BONBONS" separated by a symbol that had taken Marinette over a week to design.

Looking up and noticing that the red do not walk symbol was flashing, she attempted to stop immediately. This resulted in her nearly losing her balance and tumbling out in front of traffic. With the luck she typically had, it wouldn't have been that unexpected either. She managed to catch herself at the last moment and avoid getting run over.

Her relief only lasted a moment. Glancing up, she saw an old man in a Hawaiin shirt start limping across the crosswalk holding his back in pain and leaning on a staff. Her eyes darted around, from the several people standing on the opposite side of the road, to the guy standing next to her. Considering her clumsiness, she was by no means the kind of person who should rush into the middle of a busy intersection. Every single person had their eyes locked on a phone.

There was no other choice then. There wasn't any time. Marinette swallowed her fear, raced into the middle of the road, grabbed the old man by the arm and drug him out of the road just as a car came racing by. If she had waited even a second longer, the poor man would have been run over. It was at this time that her legendary clumsiness showed its face, as she promptly tripped and fell onto the ground, spilling several of her cookies from her small box.

The man stood over her, looking down at the mess and commented, "What a disaster," in a regretful tone.

"Don't worry. I'm no stranger to disasters," Marinette quickly assured him. "Besides, there are still a few left." She held out the open cookie box and the old man took one. Biting ito it, the man proclaimed it delicious. At that moment, the school bell rang, and Marinette remembered that she had been on her way to school and that she was going to be late. So she took off running.

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It had been a rather uneventful event when considering that the Miraculous mysteriously appeared in her house later that day, becoming a super hero, and fighting at least a dozen super-villains before the end of the next day. Now, seeing him sitting here, clearly connected with Tikki, she was finally realizing just how important that moment had been.

"Marinette, please sit down." He motioned to another portion of the large mat. "Since Tikki has brought you here, I assume it is time to share some very important information with you. Let's begin with the basics. I am Master Fu."

Marinette sat quickly, heart pounding. There was so much she didn't know, so much Tikki merely hinted at. She'd always wondered why Tikki wouldn't just blatantly tell her everything. Apparently it was because it was this 'Master Fu's' job. She kept her legs crossed, hands on them to keep them from shaking, though whether from fear or excitement she wasn't sure.

"And I'm Wayzz," a green turtle who had the same tiny bug/alien like form as Tikki and Plagg did. Tikki being a ladybug one that Marinette had. Tikki beamed when Wayzz showed up and quickly gave him a hug.

"I haven't seen you in _forever_ ," Tikki said, smiling at him. "I'm happy to see you are still doing good."

Wayzz smiled back, before whispered, "Are you sure this Ladybug is _really_ ready to know everything?"

"Everything?" Tikki whispered back, too quietly for Wayzz to hear. "No. Not really. Not at all actually. But I think she should start learning _something_. Now that me and Plagg are both out there all the time, and Hawkmoth's actions in Paris are making headlines all over the world, I don't think there is much time left." Wayzz merely nodded.

Marinette, unaware of the secret conversation passing between the Kwami, reached into her backpack and pulled out the book that she still felt guilty about not returning to Adrien. "I'm not really sure what this is, but Tikki seems to think it's important. So," She held it out to Master Fu, who quickly scrambled up from his sitting position and took it from her hands.

He started flipping through the pages and skimming through things. He quickly motioned for Wayzz, who flew over to him and stared at the pages of the book too. Tikki and Marinettesimply stared, waiting for them to come out of whatever revelry they were going through. Master Fu suddenly slammed the book shut, grabbed a jacket off of the wall, and headed for the door.

"Uh… Master Fu?" Tikki asked, utterly bewildered. As far as Marinettewas aware, this was the first time she'd actually seen Tikki at a loss. Plus, the whole 'ancient mystery about to be unconvered' vibe had sort of left the room, and now there was more of a 'Gandalf runs off to investigate something and gets captured by Saruman' vibe.

"Sorry Tikki," Master Fu said, nodding in her direction. "I apologize, Marinette. There is something that I have to check right now. I'm afraid it can't wait. I should be back in a couple of days at the latest. I'll explain everything then. Wayzz, let's go." Then he turned and rushed out of the room. Wayzz followed.

Marinette blinked, before turning back to Tikki. "Ok, I have no idea what just happened here." The look on Tikki's face said that now wasn't the time to deal with that fact. It was pale, nervous, unsettled. The little bug looked scared, and Tikki _never_ looked scared. Marinette couldn't even think of a time when Tikki looked worried.

Ok, there was that one time when Marinette had taken off the earrings. Of course, if she had left them off then that would pretty much have meant that all of Paris would have certainly fallen to Hawkmoth. If it took something _that_ drastic made her worried, then this look of fear in her eyes meant that something far worse must have been going on. "Ok, Tikki. What should I do?" Marinette asked, resolved to do whatever Tikki said. She wasn't prepared for the answer.

"Nothing," Tikki replied, staring after Master Fu. "This time, Marinette, there's nothing we can do."

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Plagg had refused to say anything. It didn't matter how much cheese he was bribed with, even an all-you-can-eat Camembert buffet hadn't been enough to make Plagg tell Adrian the answer to his question, so now Adrien was back in his room, even more conflicted than he had been a couple of minutes before. The rest of the day was spent with Adrien lying on his couch, head buried under a pillow.

Adrien's room was massive, bigger than some people's entire houses. It had two floors, with a spiraling staircase made of marble and clear glass walls to keep one from falling. On the second floor he had a library's worth of books, DVDs, and video games. Too be honest, he hadn't touched half of them.

He wasn't even aware of what some of the ones on the highest shelf even were. The shelves went nearly fifteen foot up, and with _hundreds_ … _thousands_ … of books within easy reach, there didn't seem much point in taking the effort to climb the ladder. Off to the side, the only other thing on the top floor besides his library, was a skateboard ramp. Which he never used. He wasn't even sure why it had been installed. He didn't skate. Nor did he rock climb, which was on the wall directly behind the skating ramp.

The bottom floor of his room was the living quarters. This is where he kept his two favorite video game arcade games, and a dance to the music arcade game that he used to play with his mother what felt like a hundred years ago. In one small corner of the room, where he spent most of his time, there were three large high definition computer monitors that cost ever a thousand dollars a piece, and a massive television screen hanging directly above them. Off to the side was surprisingly simple bed that wasn't really much more than a mat.

The bottom floor was _several_ times as large as the top, the top floor of his bedroom ending as a balcony overlooking the rest of it. Most of this area was just empty space, though he did have a small basketball court, with another rock wall behind and two _more_ skating ramps on the side. A foosball table and a relatively large couch that he and all of his friends could easily fit on together were the only other things. The far wall of his room was a collection of twenty giant window panels, each about ten foot tall, but just wide enough to fit through vertically.

Throughout the day, Adrien did get up from the couch for a couple minutes to mess around with his arcade games. He spent a few minutes searching the web to see if his best friend's, Nino's, girlfriend Alya had posted anything about his beloved Ladybug to the Ladyblog, a blog dedicated to said superhero. He even tried to play a little basketball by himself, which was really boring.

He was willing to try almost anything to keep his mind off of the missing book, and the peacock miraculous, if that was indeed what it was. Nothing worked. As such, he went back to burying his head into the pillow on the couch. By the time he finally went to bed, his brain was dead, and the dream he had that night was full to the brim with peacocks, superheroes, ladybugs, and angry fathers.

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Marinette wasn't having much luck sleeping. This was mainly because Tikki hadn't yet calmed down from the afternoon and kept pacing back and forth in the air, muttering to herself too quietly for Marinette to be able to make out what she was saying. She caught words like; thousands of years, guardians, doomsday, and something about a peacock, but she couldn't really understand it. She was pretty sure she wasn't meant to.

It wasn't Tikki's muttering that was keeping her awake though. It just felt wrong to sleep when her friend was in such a state. She'd tried to get Tikki to confide in her, but all she'd gotten in response was that Kwami had certain rules they had to follow. It was a part of who they were. The rules could be broken, but it never ended well for anybody involved. As such, only Kwami under the control of a super-villain ever did so.

It wasn't until late that night, probably after midnight, that sleep became too much for Marinette, and she slipped off into a restless sleep.

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So many secrets and mysteries present themselves, and the rules of the Kwami are first introduced. Suspense hangs in the air, bringing with it an aura of doom.

~ Xanatos Stones


	3. Chapter 2: Closing The Net

Hello, and welcome to the second installment of Kwami. I want to thank everybody who took the time to favorite or review my stories. There is nothing more motivating for me than knowing that people enjoy what I am writing. Without any further ado…

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 **Chapter Two: Closing The Net**

The next morning came too soon, and Adrien found himself stumbling out of bed half asleep. He made his way down the stairs, making certain not to glance in the direction of his father's secondary office, the room where Nathalie was currently being scolded for something. He didn't listen in to find out what his father was so displeased about. He was fairly certain he already knew.

His morning routine was simple. He would get dressed, eat, and then have The Gorilla drive him to school. Typically, Nathalie would be watching to make sure he was doing everything on a very tight schedule, but she seemed a bit busy today. So he ate alone, and then had the Gorilla drive him to school. By the time he arrived, he found himself beginning to brim with excitement.

It felt so easy to shrug off the weight of his house when he was at school, surrounded by Nino, Alya, and Marinette. He smiled at the thought. There was just something about the clumsy, excitable, eager Marinette that helped his heavy life to feel just a little bit lighter. The thought allowed him to push the mysteries at home aside for a moment and focus instead on the fun awaiting him at school.

He found to his surprise when he arrived at the school that Marinette wasn't there yet. He shrugged this off, as the girl was quite often late, and instead smiled and waved at Alya and Nino. The two of them waved back, and it must have been his sleepy state that caused him to miss the fact that the two of them were now sitting in the same row. His quizzical look was returned with a sneaky smirk from Nino. Which was odd, but he shrugged it off and sat down in his normal seat. He supposed he'd be sitting with Marinette today then.

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Marinette blinked, her eyes taking in the sunlight streaming through her bedroom window. She rolled over slowly to check what time it was and immediately jolted awake. School had started almost half an hour ago! She quickly stood up and climbed down the stairs to her bedroom floor. She once again questioned her desire to have a bed up in the air that forced her to climb down a ladder every morning while half asleep. Her clumsiness was difficult enough to deal with while awake.

In comparison to Adrien's room, Marinette's was small and cluttered. Directly underneath of her bed, she had an 'L' shaped desk where she kept her computer, with a screensaver of her beloved Adrian on it. Several pictures of Adrian hung around it. She also kept some of her school books, and a small dresser where she kept her art supplies, on the desk.

On the smaller section of the L, she had a giant picture from a time when she had been in a modeling shoot with Adrian, and below that was a board that she was constantly sticking sticky notes to in an attempt to never forget any of the countless commitments she took upon herself every day. It didn't do as much good as it should have.

The only other things in her room were a couch/bed that she would often sit on during the day, and sleep on at night if she didn't feel like climbing the ladder to her actual bed, a small counter for applying makeup, and another dresser where she kept some of her artistic creations, such as her Ladybug and Cat Noir dolls, and dolls of several of the villains they'd taken down together.

As soon as Marinette's feet touched the floor, she raced over to the counter and saw Tikki fast asleep in a little makeup case where she kept her bed. Typically, Tikki made sure Marinette didn't sleep in, but for obvious reasons she wasn't awake at the moment. Marinette looked down at her sleeping friend and shook her head lovingly. Tikki was going to be mad at her when she woke up, but Marinette had no intention of waking the sleeping Kwami.

She quickly pulled a note sticker off of her messy schedule board and scribbled a short note to Tikki, explaining that she was going to school and that she hadn't found herself capable of waking her up. Then she set the note next to the bed. She threw on her typical long pink pants, black jacket, and white short sleeved shirt with a flower embroidered over the heart.

Marinette spent about a minute or two on making herself look proper with a comb, make up, the works. She was going to be seeing Adrien at school, after all. She couldn't possibly go with a bedhead. Then she opened the trap door that led from her room to the bakery and headed down the stairs.

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As she approached the school, Marinette was already having doubts about leaving Tikki behind, and despite how late she was, contemplating heading back home. It felt odd not having her little companion around, and it also felt dangerous. Considering what had happened just yesterday, there was no doubt Tikki would be very displeased with her when she got back to her room. She just hoped that was all she had to worry about today, because if Paris needed Ladybug… She didn't finish the thought.

Marinette pushed open the door to her room in the school, with every intention of sneaking in without being noticed. This didn't happen though. Instead she simply stood there, by the front door of the room, staring at her seat. Alya was sitting in the row behind, and grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Sitting next to Marinette's spot, and smiling at her with the smile that still made her swoon, was Adrian Agreste.

"Stop standing there like a buffoon and sit down already. Can't you see you are interrupting class?" The voice was none other than that of one of the worst human beings in Paris. At least, that was Marinette's opinion, and she wasn't alone in it either. Chloé Bourgeois, daughter of Paris' Mayor.

Miss Bustier, the teacher of the class, shot Chloé a look, but didn't say a word. Before motioning to the seat next to Adrian and saying, "Marinette, please sit down. The class is waiting."

Marinette fought hard not to mutter under her breath, or shoot a glare at Chloé, as it wouldn't do any good. Plus, every eye in the class was on her, so it wouldn't really have been appropriate. Instead, she slowly, awkwardly moved to the row that Adrian was sitting in and sat down next to him. As of late, she'd gotten to the point that she was less awkward around him.

She could speak to him now, instead of just the half words that used to come out of her mouth whenever she tried. Though, she did still say some really embarrassing things at times. After all, her thought processes were still somewhat delayed just by being in his vicinity. Which is why she was pretty sure she wasn't going to be remembering much of anything the teacher said in class today. Alya was going to have to provide her with _her_ notes today. That's the least she could do after pulling _this_.

Just as expected, Marinette didn't accomplish much during first hour, or second. She would look up from her book periodically, and glance over at Adrian. She would look away the moment his eyes came in her direction though. This process was repeated multiple times.

Even when she wasn't looking, Marinette's thoughts were along the lines of 'I can't believe I'm sitting next to Adrien!?", "Adrien is SO cute when he is concentrating so hard!" and "I wonder what he's doing after class today?" There was no room left in her somewhat muddled and very busy prain to pay any attention to what the teacher had to say.

After what seemed like an eternity, second hour was over and they were given a moment to relax. "Marinette. you ok?" were the first words out of Adrien's head and Marinette felt her cheeks turn a bright red that she quickly attempted to hide. _He was worried about her!?_ She gave a silent mental squeal of delight before realizing that she should probably address his question.

"Ye… No… I mean… Uh. Yeah, I…I'm alright. Why?" Marinette managed to stammer out.

"Well," Adrien frowned, looking a little awkward. "You were late to school, and have been acting a little unsettled the entire time you were here. I mean, we were reading a segment from The Hunchback of Notre Dame a couple minutes ago. I got a little lost, so I glanced over to see if you were at the right spot, and you had The Count of Monte Cristo open." He smirked. "And were pretending to follow along."

Marinette turned bright red, stood to her feet, announced she needed to go to the bathroom, and rushed out the door. Behind her, as the conversation was going on, Alya and Nino were exchanging a smirk. When Marinette raced out of the room, however, Alya quickly jumped to her feet and rushed after her best friend.

Marinette didn't stop until she got to the ladies' bathroom, where she promptly threw water on her face. Alya entered the room a couple of seconds after Marinette. "Look, Marinette," Alya said quickly. "Maybe me and Nino went a little too far with this. I just thought, you know, you might enjoy being able to sit next to Adrien for school one time. I didn't mean to make you feel like an idiot or anything. I'm sorry."

Marinette shook her head. "No, it was nice." She responded with a slight smile. "I just can't believe I did something _that_ stupid, and that Adrien of all people is the one who noticed me doing it." She set her head on the sink, face first, in shame. "I am such an idiot. Why in the world can I _still_ not be normal around him?! I mean, it's not like we haven't spent a lot of time together. I'm surprised he doesn't think I'm a complete braincase yet."

Alya smiled. "Probably because he likes hanging out with you almost as much as you enjoy hanging out with him?" Marinette opened her mouth but Alya held up her finger. "Don't try to deny it, Girl. I've talked to him on a number of occasions, remember. Such as when the whole Kung Food thing went down a couple weeks ago, remember? He was quite happy to go hang out with you." She smirked. "He sent me a smile emoji."

Marinette smiled. "Really?" She asked, her mood instantly improving.

"Yup," Alya replied. "You shoulda seen his face when he came walking into school today, too. At first he had this big, 'what's going on' look of confusion on his face. Knowing you, you woulda found it completely adorable. Then he sat down in the empty seat with this smile on his face, waiting for you to show up. There is no way you missed the way he smiled at you when you walked in the door."

She leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially. "I bet, if you were to tell him you liked him, he would totally ask you out on a date."

A date? With Adrien? She sighed dreamily. They'd go out to eat at a nice restaurant, and talk about home life, feelings, and adventures. He'd tell her what it was like living in a mansion, and she'd respond by telling him about living in a bakery. They'd go out to a movie and share a box of popcorn while laughing at some silly cheesy comedy. They'd walk home in the moonlight, and after walking her home, he'd… Marinette's face now became solid red.

"Yeah right, Alya," she said, though her voice tone didn't reflect the same emotions as her words. Then she frowned a little. "But I've tried telling him so many different times, in so many different ways, and I never fail to screw it up. Face it, Alya. The likelihood of me successfully letting Adrien know I like him is only slightly less than Hawkmoth deciding to join forces with Ladybug."

Alya nudged her. "Come on, Girl. You have to do it eventually, or else he is going to fall for some other girl while you are taking your sweet time. I don't know why, considering how popular and friendly he is, but he doesn't have a girlfriend. You leave him alone too much longer, though, and somebody else is going to step in while you wait. Somebody like, I dunno, Lila?"

The mention of Lila caused Marinette's face to change a little. Sure, after using Ladybug to reveal that girl a fraud and a liar, it was unlikely Adrien would be going out with her. But the fear that had seized her mind just the day before, and caused her to overreact so drastically, creating a new enemy and allowing for the girl's akumatization, was still fresh in her mind.

There was no reason to assume some other girl wouldn't try to take her Adrien away just as Lila did, just… without being a tool or a liar. If that happened, there really wasn't anything she'd be able to do about it. She'd have lost Adrien, and had nothing but her own stupid cowardice to blame it on. "Ok," she said, trying to resolve herself as best she could. "I'll tell him."

A scream came from the classroom, and both Alya and Marinette spun around towards the bathroom door. The scream was followed by a couple more, and just as Alya was about to announce she needed to go out and record… everything fell silent. Marinette and Alya stood rooted to the spot, glancing at each other in bewilderment. Their first thought had been an akuma attack, but… if that was really the case, the silence didn't bode well at all.

"Should… we go see what's going on?" Marinette stammered out. Alya nodded silently, finger to her lips. She pushed open the door and glanced in both directions. There was nobody there. Marinette fought back the impulse to call out, and instead made her way back towards the classroom. She pushed the door open silently, and her eyes widened. Everybody in the class stood, frozen in terror. Like, _literally_ frozen to the spot with a look of terror on their face.

"Akuma," Alya whispered, and Marinette's eyes darted around the room. Adrien wasn't there.

"You don't think it was after Adrien, do you?" Marinette asked, the worry evident on her face. "He isn't here, Alya." She needed to get home. She couldn't go search for Adrien, couldn't turn on the news to see if they knew anything, couldn't evan stay with Alya. She needed to get home, and she needed to get home now. Tikki was there. And as long as Tikki was there, no Ladybug would be showing up to save the day. The question was, how?

She couldn't really tell Alya that they should split up. During an akuma attack, that would be the absolute stupidest thing for a normal person to say. Then again… "Alya," Marinette said, glancing out the window. "The akuma isn't here anymore. That means it's out on the street. Since it was already here once, it probably won't be coming back. I'm going to hide here."

Alya nodded. "I'll stay with you."

"I'll be fine," Marinette replied, thinking quickly. "I mean, you don't want to stay cooped up in here. You have your ladyblog to worry about. There is an akuma out there, and no doubt Cat Noir and Ladybug are fighting it as we speak. If you want to get something recorded, you need to hurry."

Alya glanced between Marinette and the door to the school indecisively. "Don't worry." Marinette said with a smile. "I'll be fine."

Alya glanced between the door and Marinette one more time. "Ok," she finally said. "But if that changes after I leave you, I'm going to make you regret telling me to do so. Got it?"

"Course." Marinette replied. "But nothing will. Now go." She motioned for Alya to hurry, and her friend did. Marinette now found herself alone in the classroom with a bunch of still-as-statue horrified classmates. Why couldn't the world leave her alone for even one day? Marinette wondered to herself.

She then waited about five minutes, enough time to know that she wouldn't be accidentally catching up with Alya, and raced out the door of her classroom. Adrien was missing, and Cat Noir was going to need Ladybug. She just prayed Ladybug wasn't going to arrive too late. Oddly, she found she wasn't sure which worried her more, being too late for Cat Noir or being too late for Adrien.

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Adrien blinked, eyes wide as Marinette raced from the room. What… had just happened? Maybe he shouldn't have brought up her strange behavior, but he was pretty sure something was bothering her. Sure, she often acted oddly around him. He wasn't clueless. He knew that Marinette didn't trip over her words or stammer in incomplete sentences while talking to anybody else. He had his suspicions, but chose not to speak up about it. He didn't want to believe his suspicious were accurate. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

Which was why he typically wouldn't have said anything. But there was something else going on today. Maybe it wasn't even something she was consciously thinking about. He wasn't sure. He'd never figured out how to read a girl's mind, let alone Marinette's. She was different than anybody he'd ever met before, not that he'd met all that many people his age, but he still got the feeling she was a very unique girl.

Something was bothering her, though. Something serious. The dark rings under her eyes indicated a lack of sleep, and the look she'd had on her face when she'd walked into class right before realizing she was sharing a seat with him was that of a person with massive weight on her shoulders. Something was wrong. He just… didn't know what.

It was as he sat dwelling on this that everything went to chaos. The window shattered suddenly as a small glass camera went flying through it. Then, a supervillian floated up to the window riding a video camera. She wore a dark flowing purple cape, a skin tight jump suit, and goggles with a red light indicating she was recording everything around her.

"I am the Petrifier," she announced to the startled class. "And I am here for Ladybug and Cat Noir."

 _Well, she's certainly not camera shy._ Was the pun that was ready to leap out of Adrien's mouth, right before she made her declaration. Everybody in the room looked absolutely bewildered. She was here for Ladybug and Cat Noir? Why in the world would Ladybug and Cat Noir be here? All of the students glanced between each other in utter confusion, and Adrien fought the urge to crawl under his desk.

What in the world made her think she would find either of them him? Sure, he was here a lot. He attended school here. But she didn't appear to know that he was Cat Noir, as she glanced directly over him. In fact, it didn't appear she expected any of them to actually be the super heroes. After surveying the room twice, she snapped her fingers and one of the small flying cameras circling her snapped a picture of Miss Bustier.

The teacher immediately stopped moving, and the room arupted into terror. Flashes filled the room, and this time, Adrien didn't hesitate to throw himself under his desk. As soon as he hit the floor, he froze as still as a statue. He was a model. He'd had to stand without budging for several minutes at a time on _many_ different occasions.

The Petrifier glanced around the room at all of the frozen students. Once more she called out, "Ladybug! Cat Noir! If you want to save your precious Françoise Dupont students, I suggest you show your face. No? Well, I'm going on a bit of a sight seeing tour." She hopped back onto her video camera and floated out of the window. "You have about an hour before this becomes irreversible, even for your 'Miraculous Butterfly' ability. The deadline is 12:15 sharp." As she called this out, the familiar voice and body shape clicked in his head. Nathalie.

As soon as she had disappeared below the window, Adrien snuck out from under his desk and made his way into the bathroom. He had no idea if the people in his classroom could still see, and whether or not they would remember him transforming their while they were immobile. Better safe than sorry. Once in the bathroom, he opened his shirt and whispered. "Plagg, claws out."

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Nathalie the super villain. Why did she think Cat Noir and Ladybug would be at the school? What is her plan? Will Adrien be able to stop her, and will Marinette reach Tikki in time. Only time will tell.

~ Xanatos Stones

5


	4. Chapter 3: Without A Ladybug

{I want to start by once again thanking the people who took the time to favorite, follow, and review my latest chapters. It really does mean a lot.}

The adventure continues, as the stakes thicken, and Marinette finds herself deeply regretting leaving Tikki at home. Please enjoy…

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 **Chapter Three: Without A Ladybug**

Marinette raced down the street, growing more and more uneasy as she did so. Paris was silent. No cars were moving down the intersections. No pedestrians were walking. Even the wild animals seemed to have figured out that Paris wasn't a safe place right now. Add to this the fact that the experience felt similar to walking through a museum designed to look like Paris. There were birds frozen in the air, dogs frozen mid-bark, cars frozen at stop signs. This super-villain, whatever it was, was terrifying.

She remembered how she had felt when she first received the Miraculous. She remembered the first time an acuma villain had shown up. She had grown so used to having Tikki around that she had completely forgotten what it felt like to be an ordinary person at a time like this. She turned another corner and instantly froze.

Marinette had made the mistake of thinking there could only be one thing more terrifying than running through this museum, bumping into the akumatized person that had caused this. She was wrong. Around the next corner, a victorious look on the parts of his face that could be seen, was Hawkmoth. "Hello, Marinette. I've come to collect your earrings."

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Gabriel Agreste had woken from a rather fitful sleep that morning. His mood hadn't really improved much over the last week since learning that his son was Cat Noir. The failure of his brilliant plan yesterday had put him in an even worse mood. What was with the world and insisting on constantly spiraling out of his control?

Gabriel Agreste's room was nowhere near the size of his son's. He wasn't a teenager who needed to let out pent up aggression or hyper activity, and he had an office where he kept most of his work. Plus, as the entire house was technically his, he didn't spend much time in his room whatsoever. Thus, he had elected to use one of the smallest rooms in his mansion.

It didn't have any fancy staircases, or sparkling chandeliers. It was small and practical. There was a bathroom, wherein he had a shower and a drawer where he kept his miraculous, a brooch in the shape of a moth. In the room was a dresser, on top of which he had one or two books he had been reading that day. He spent a lot of his free time reading books to help inspire his fashion senses.

A picture of his wife sat next to the books, dressed in a flowing gown and wearing a peacock brooch and holding a bouquet of flowers. He stood next to her in a suitcoat, straight and rigged as ever. However, he also wore a smile the likes of which he hadn't worn since the day she died. The picture was taken at a ballroom dance they had attended almost ten years before, but Adèle had always insisted it was her favorite picture of him. For some reason, when he'd moved out of the bedroom they shared together to this super tiny one, it had made the trip with him.

Besides the dresser, he had a small shelf that couldn't fit more than twenty books, and he had stuffed it full. Unlike the rest of the house, there were no windows in his room.

Hand on his head, he headed down the stairs and made his way to Nathalie's office. She wouldn't be there at the moment. She had to get ready for the day and then take Adrien to school. So, he didn't need to worry about being interrupted. Reaching the portrait, he quickly opened his safe, and stared blankly at the empty spot on his shelf. His ancient super hero textbook was gone.

Gabriel's mind instantly ran through all the possibilities. Nathalie had found it. Unlikely, she wouldn't dream of searching through his stuff. Possibly 'The Gorilla' as Adrien had dubbed his bodyguard. No. He wasn't the type who would have had any interest whatsoever in this room. There was no way he would have found it. Adrien then? That seemed unlikely. How would he have gotten past the… Kwami.

The book had called him Plagg, the cat Kwami that belonged to Cat Noir. If Adrien had truly gotten ahold of that book, then that complicated his already out of control life. If he had it, and found a way to figure out what it said… He'd know all there was to know about Hawkmoth, about Ladybug, about himself. And… he'd learn about his mother's miraculous. It was sitting right there next to the book, after all.

Gabriel frowned. That meant that there was no time to waste. He needed to end this today. He had a few ideas, mostly guesswork that he had been hoping to confirm before everything went to heck. If he could get exactly the super villain he wanted, though, then he supposed he could pull it off. And he had the perfect person in mind. " _NATHALIE!"_ He yelled out, his voice full of unbridled rage. "Get in here this instant!"

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Cat Noir leapt from building to building, eyes scanning the city for any sign of The Petrifier. Or Ladybug. Was it wrong to enjoy the world being in danger when it allowed him to see his beloved Lady? Plus, having been cooped up all of his life, being a superhero was a breathe of fresh air.

Moving through the air, swinging from his stick. It was the only time he ever truly felt free. Free from an unflinchable schedule, from a bodyguard knowing where he was at all times, from his father's cold, overbearing, controlling demeanor. Free from responsibility. Strange how he felt free of responsibility while chasing a super-villain across Paris.

Then he saw her, cameras flashing in all directions. The Petrifier was right below him. At this point, he realized that he had no idea what he was supposed to do next. She wasn't like the typical akumatized villain who had a solid event mission that you could attempt to prevent. Her one track mission simply seemed to be 'freeze everything in Paris that moves'.

As such, he wasn't exactly sure what his first step to defeating it would be. Not to mention he had no idea what Nathalie had been wearing that morning. Figuring out where the akuma was hiding was probably the first order of business, but how he was supposed to do that without getting anywhere near her was the trick. There weren't really very many places to hide, and there were too many cameras. Attacking without Ladybug was paramount to suicide. Where was she?

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Hawkmoth! Marinette's heart nearly stopped. So many questions bounced through her head at that moment, but the biggest one was… "W…w…why do you want my earrings?" She stammered out the question, not needing to fake the terror that was racing through every pour of her being. She was regretting more than ever leaving Tikki at home and making a mental note that, if she miraculously made it out of this alive, _never_ to do that again.

"Don't play dumb with me, girl. I know exactly who you are. Hand over the Miraculous before things get bloody."

Marinette's mind was racing. She had no idea what Hawkmoth's powers were, but if he was anything like Cat Noir or Ladybug, then he was no one-trick-pony. She couldn't see any weapon on him, but she was fairly certain that he had one. And even if he didn't, the likelihood of her winning a fight with the man towering in front of her in _her_ civilian form was laughable.

"Wait… you think… I'm Ladybug?" Marinette stuttered. "What makes you think…?"

"Do you really think I just threw a bunch of random villains at you without a strategy? I'm Hawkmoth. My greatest power is that of manipulation. I am the king of mind games. I had a strategy, and a mission. Plus," he smirked. "I learned quite a lot of interesting facts from your friend's Ladyblog, like… for instance… that you were attending the same class as her."

Marinette blinked. She had found it odd that, one by one, every single one of her classmates had been akumatized. Sure, they'd been being akumatized long before the Pharoah incident, but for _every single one_ of them… except Adrien, actually, to be akumatized… That was a little bit out there.

"Now, I won't repeat myself again. Hand over your earrings, Marinette!"

Marinette froze. There was no way she could give Hawkmoth her earrings, but there was also no way she could get out of this situation without fighting, and there was no way she could win. If Hawkmoth got her Miraculous, it would all be over. Cat Noir could do everything in his power. Every other Kwami in existence could show up, but if Hawkmoth had _her_ Miraculous, they would most certainly lose.

Hawkmoth took a step towards her, hand extended. "You! Hands over your head. Now!" The voice split through the silence, and both Marinette and Hawkmoth turned to see a cop that was very familiar to the both of them. His name was Roger Raincomprix, and he considered himself a hero for justice. In his hands was a gun, and he was pointing it directly at Hawkmoth.

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Cat Noir was perplexed. Time was running out, and as of yet, there was no Ladybug. He was beginning to grow anxious, his cavalier attitude all but gone. If Ladybug didn't show up soon, he was going to have to go down there and attack The Petrifier himself. In order to do that, he would need to lure her into a place where he would be able to see much better than any of the cameras could.

Once there, he would be able to take them out one by one. He needed either a dark room or a maze. But how was he supposed to get The Petrifier to go into a place where she was clearly at a ridiculous disadvantage was beyond him. How does one lure a being that seems to have only one desire, when that one desire was more likely to be achieved in areas _other_ than where they are weakest? Ladybug would have an answer. She always did. Too bad she wasn't here to give it.

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"Yes, Rogercop?" Hawkmoth asked, eyebrow raised. He took a step towards Roger, who stumbled backwards. Marinette chose to take this moment to run for her life. She regretted leaving Roger behind to deal with Hawkmoth, but the sooner she got to Tikki, the sooner she could become Ladybug.

As Ladybug, she was sure she would be able to take down Hawkmoth. She was only a few minutes from her house. If she hurried, with any luck, she'd be able to get back here before he disappeared. And if she could do that, she was willing to bet she could finally beat him. "Sorry, Cat Noir," she whispered, not even sure what direction he was in. "You're going to have to take care of this one on your own."

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After waiting five more minutes, Cat Noir decided he needed to take action without Ladybug. He wasn't sure where she was, and he was rather nervous about letting the akuma free without Ladybug around. It hadn't turned out well at all the last time he'd done that. Unforunately, three minutes had passed since then and he hadn't found an opportunity to act. He needed some form of distract…

His ears perked up, and his head shot in the direction of the sound. He didn't know what it was, but it wasn't coming from him or The Petrifier, and it had come from the direction they had just left. Cat Noir's eyes widened as he saw Alya heading in his direction. She was moving quietly, step by step, sneaking ever forward. She slipped from behind a frozen person, to behind a bush, to under a bench.

Cat Noir hesitated. There was absolutely no way Marinette would be happy with him involving Alya in any of his adventures, and he was pretty sure Ladybug would be just about as cross with him. He frowned. Of course, if she'd shown up like she was supposed to, he wouldn't even be entertaining the idea. "Sorry," he whispered to the two special girls in his life. He didn't really want to disappoint either of them, but that was secondary to his job. His friends were dying. He needed to save them.

Extending his pole, Cat Noir launched himself off of the roof and landed in front of Alya doing a roll and then a bow. "Yo, Alya." He smiled up at her in his typical flirtatious smile. The look of surprise that had been clearly sketched on her face when he landed in front of him turned to annoyance. Cat Noir instantly regret it and straighten up. Flirting with his best friend's girlfriend was _not_ cool.

"Ladybug isn't here today," he said, and Alya gave him an incredulous look. "Yeah. My thoughts exactly. Anyways, I am going to need a partner if I am going to bring down the Petrifier. Since you don't have anything to videotape today, would you mind lending me a hand?" He smiled. "Wanna play the role of a superhero for a day?"

Alya glanced at Cat Noir, then at the villain, then back at Cat Noir. She had always, always, _always_ wanted to be a superhero. "But… the akuma…?"

"We'll have to worry about that later," Cat Noir replied. "This super villain has a time limit. If we don't take her down by then, people are going to start dying."

 _Dying._ "You mean to tell me that the people she frozen are going to _DIE!?_ " Alya's eyes widened in horror. Cat Noir wasn't certain he knew what she was thinking, but he could completely relate to the look in her eyes. It wasn't that no akuma villain had tried to kill before, but never on the massive scale he was looking at now. Thousands of people were frozen now, at least, and if the frozen people were really going to start die, the entire population of Paris could be wiped off the face of the earth in a matter of hours.

"Yeah," Cat Noir replied. "Ladybug and I have never dealt with a threat this large before." He hated to admit it. Giving any hints about his past experiences as Cat Noir before showing up in Paris was something Plagg had always been adamant about. And that Kwami wasn't adamant about much. But he needed Alya's help, and he needed it now. "I _can't_ beat her on my own. I know it's dangerous, but I really do need your help."

Alya glanced between Cat Noir, the frozen people around her, and then at the Petrifier. This wasn't like any of the situations she'd found herself in while stalking Ladybug. She wasn't being asked to hide in a corner and video tape quietly. Sure, she'd been captured once, but Ladybug and Cat Noir had been there at the time. But Paris needed her. She glanced back at her school, where she had left Marinette and her frozen boyfriend.

A part of her wanted to rush back and make sure Marinette was ok. Things were very different this time around. Even if Ladybug and Cat Noir won, which seemed unlikely with Ladybug missing, people could still end up dead. Whether or not Marinette was ok, Nino wasn't. Her next action would be the same. "Ok, Cat Noir," Alya said with a nod of her head. "What do you need me to do?"

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Marinette raced towards her house, panic in her eyes. She wasn't sure what to do. She felt robbed, horrified, empty. It was like every secret she had ever had was out in the open, and there as nowhere she could hide. She was being watched around every corner, stalked by invisible eyes that she could never escape.

Hawkmoth knew who she was. She couldn't just ignore that. If he knew who she was, that meant her parents were in danger. Her friends were in danger. Adrien was in danger. It was as if she had been being protected by an invisible bubble that she had thought unbreakable. Until now. In typical villain manner, Hawkmoth had appeared out of nowhere, touched the bubble, and popped it with ease.

If she didn't capture him today, then she knew he would devise something far more horrible than what he had tried today. He wouldn't make the same mistake again. Although she'd known it was going to come down to it eventually, the fact that the someday had suddenly become today made it all the more terrifying. Today, it was either her or Hawkmoth. Cat Noir wouldn't be able to help.

She didn't even bother to give an explanation as she shoved open the door to her parents' bakery, before suddenly tripping on the doorstep and falling on the floor in front of several customers. There was no reaction, and Marinette quickly scrambled back to her feet. The customers were all frozen, and she turned to see her parents frozen as well. They looked like they had been deep in a discussion with one of the customers over a potential sale.

Marinette breathed in to calm herself down, and then quickly scrambled up to her room. As soon as she shoved open the door, Tikki came flying at her. "Tikki!" Marinette called her, absolutely overjoyed to see her Kwami. She suddenly felt far safer than she had since that morning, but it didn't deaden the fear that Hawkmoth had created in her. She was certain that wouldn't be going away for a while.

Tikki had seemed like she was about to scold Marinette, but the haunted look in her eyes caused her to stop. "I'm glad you are ok," Tikki looked shaken, and Marinette kicked herself for letting her friend go through such a terrifying experience. There was nothing Tikki could have done when the super villain had shown up. Her first thought had probably been to rush to the school, before realizing that Marinette might be making her way back to the house. The worst scenario would have been for them to miss each other on the way to their destinations.

"I'm sorry, Tikki," Marinette replied uncomfortably. "But we can talk about this later. Right now, we need to take down Hawkmoth." Tikki's eyes widened in surprise, but she wasn't given time to respond before Marinette yelled. "Tikki, spots on!" The Kwami was instantly sucked into Marinette's earrings and a magical transformation began. It ended with Marinette wearing a skintight red spotted jumpsuit, her superpowers at last activated. She grabbed the yoyo hanging from her hips, latched it to the top of her roof and swung out the window. "I'm coming for you, Hawkmoth."

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Hawkmoth and Ladybug have reached the final showdown of their battle, and Alya finds herself working with a rather desperate Cat Noir. Will Hawkmoth finally win? Will Cat Noir and Alya be able to save their friends? ;) You'll have to read the next installment to find out.

~ Xanatos Stones


	5. Chapter 4: Taking Down A Super Villain

While Cat Noir and Alya team up with a reckless and dangerous plan to bring down an Akumatized villain, Ladybug recklessly goes after Hawkmoth. Please enjoy…

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 **Chapter Four: Taking Down A Super Villain**

This was a bad plan. Alya hadn't said it, but she was definitely thinking it. Ladybug probably wouldn't have gone along with it. She would probably have had an epic plan that she could have orchestrated with minimal help from Cat Noir. That's what should have been happening right now, Ladybug leading the way with her sidekick backing her up. But Ladybug wasn't around, and Alya was beginning to get the feeling she wasn't coming.

So, it would have been her job to tell Cat Noir that his plan sucked. Which she would have been more than willing to do… if she'd had any idea what else they could possibly have done. As she did not, arguing that the only plan either of them had was a bad plan probably wouldn't have helped matters at all. Plus, the look on Cat Noir's face when he explained the plan pretty much screamed that he knew it was a horrible plan. But he was desperate, and so was she.

The plan was simple. Make herself a target of The Petrifier. Stand near an alley and take a picture of the Petrifier. Then race into the alley. As it seemed the Petrifier's main focus was knowing where everybody was at all times… This was a complete guess. Considering what his father was yelling at Nathalie for that morning, added to the fact that she was riding around on a video camera followed by typical cameras, and that people froze when their picture was taken, it was an educated guess. But it was still just a guess. If he was wrong, the plan would fail.

If this part went off without a hitch, the camera should immediately rush after Alya. Now… it was a small alley. Trying to fly down it riding a video camera would not be possible. As such, she would either get off… which would be bad as Cat Noir was counting on the second option, which was she would ride the video camera into the sky so that she could watch from above.

If this was the case, then Cat Noir would be able to hide in the shadows of the alleyways and take out the cameras one by one without worrying about bumping into The Petrifier. Of course, he was a little bit uncomfortable with the fact that he didn't know if the video camera itself had any unusual qualities besides flight. His plan couldn't take whatever power it may have into effect, as he had absolutely no idea what it could possibly be.

The goal at the moment wasn't going to be taking down all of the camera though. The alleys were too narrow, and there weren't enough places to hide. He would take out as many cameras as he could, but as he didn't know how durable they were, the first priority was going to be to make sure they didn't hit Alya with a flash.

The alleyways Cat Noir and Alya had mapped out would take them directly to a warehouse, which Alya would need to slip into. Once she did, she would need to find some place to hide. That would be the biggest gamble of all. He didn't know if the cameras could see in the dark, and if they couldn't, whether they would choose to follow Alya in anyways, trusting the light of their flash to bring her down.

He wished he had time to head to the mansion and grab some clearly Gabriel Agreste item. If he did that, then The Petrifier would almost _certainly_ have rushed without taking time to consider the negative effects of such an action. She wanted to track everybody, but actually _finding_ what was stolen from Gabriel Agreste would certainly have become her top priority. But… all he'd been able to hand Alya was a bag with the Gabriel Logo etched on it. It was a kind you could have found at _any_ of his fathers' stores, but it was the best he had.

As far as what they were supposed to do once the cameras and the Petrifier were inside the warehouse… Cat Noir hadn't had the slightest clue. He'd said. "We'll win." But when asked _how_ they would win… what the _strategy_ would be… he hadn't had a clue. Seemed his plan right now was simply to get the Petrifeir into a place where he felt he had a chance of winning a fight one-on-one. That was the end of the plan, and that was what Alya hated the most about it.

The conversation had gone something like this.

"But... you still need to, you know... actually fight the supervillian."

"..."

"What is your strategy for winning?"

"..."

"So... The plan goes... We do all this fancy stuff with lots of if's that could go dangerously, deadly wrong."

"Yup"

"All in order to MAYBE get her into this building."

"Yup."

"And once we get her into the building... the end of the plan is..."

"We'll win."

"... I don't like this plan."

That had been the end of the conversation though, as Alya had immediately started heading for the alleyway. After all, there wasn't time for another plan. As she was now standing next to the alley in question, hidden and waiting for The Petrifier to walk by, she found himself regretting not insisting upon a different plan. After all, with Ladybug incognito, them failing basically meant all of Paris was going to die. A half-hazard plan like this being the only thing stopping that was nothing short of a nightmare.

Then came the sound of a flying video camera, and the screams of Paris citizens attempting to escape the Petrifier. Alya hid herself behind a trash can, peering out at the chaos. She glanced up at the roof above her one last time, whispering, "Where are you, Ladybug?" Then she pulled out her camera, leaned out of the alley, and snapped a photo of The Petrifier.

Immediately, The Petrifier's head snapped around, and Alya slipped back into the alley just in time to see a couple of flashes of light right where she had been a second earlier. She took off running down the alley, mind racing. She pulled out her phone, hit the power button, and activated the live stream she'd had set up for the fight. She dodged to the left and the right, doing her best to always keep a trash bag between her and the cameras.

From time to time, a piece of trash, an extended pole, a cement block, whatever Cat Noir could find, would come spiraling over top of Alya's head and smash into one of the cameras. There were eight in all, but they were heavily fortified, almost tank like in their sturdiness. Tho… the one that Cat Noir had managed to hit with a cement block did explode.

"Hi. Alya here, and welcome to another live blog from the Ladyblog. I am currently helping Cat Noir… Screw it. Ladybug, I am posting this on the very slim off chance that you might actually see it somewhere. If anybody is still out there, and listening to this, hook it up in whatever way you can… Loud speakers, Computers, TV studios, anything and everything you can."

"Ladybug, I don't know where you are, or what you are doing… but Paris _needs_ you. Cat Noir is doing his best, but he is up against a villain more deadly than any the two of you have ever faced before. He was so desperate; he came to me for help." That was when the cement block had exploded one of the cameras.

"I can only assume that what you are doing is important, but excuse my impertinence. This is more so. If you don't show up, my boyfriend will die. My best friend will die. My parents will die. Cat Noir will die. And in a short period of times… thousands of others will too. The longer it takes to bring this villain down, the more deaths will be piling up. If you don't stop this villain now, you could be looking at _millions_ of deaths! Ladybug, we need you. Please…" And that was the end of the recording.

Alya tripped and fell, barely missing a flash that would have frozen her for good. She looked up and saw the warehouse just a few foot away. However, she didn't have time to get back up. Several camera flashes sealed her doom. In that moment, Cat Noir's pole flew out and caught ahold of the Gabriel brand bag. "You want me?" He called out from the front of the warehouse. "Come and get me." And he slipped inside.

As the cameras gathered around outside, Cat Noir found himself sweating. He was scared stiff. He wasn't sure what to do next, or how to get out of the predicament. Alya had told him she didn't like the plan, and he'd agreed with her. It was a terrible plan. When fighting alongside Ladybug, there had always been a plan of attack. At the moment, there was only one that Cat Noir could think of.

His original plan to take out the cameras one by one had been a failure. They were just too difficult to destroy. There were still seven, which meant the moment they burst into the warehouse they'd be able to light up a massive portion of it. He'd only have a few second to attack, if that. Which meant that he was going to need to go straight for the item the akuma was hiding in. It wasn't an impossible plan… if he had the _slightest_ idea where the akuma could have been hidden!

He quickly attemped to bring up a picture of The Petrifier in his head. Skin tight suit. Video camera. Black cape. Video Glasses. What was she still wearing that she had been wearing that morning? Her phone! He'd noticed it in passing, having become a part of the video camera. It had been a gift from Gabriel, and all the video feed recorded from the mansion went into a secure file on it. So all he had to do was destroy it before he was taken down by an army of cameras. Why oh why couldn't he use Cataclysm more than once?

The cameras flew into the room and instantly flashes of light began to fly through the warehouse. Cat Noir threw himself to the ground, barely dodging one of the blasts, before rolling and leaping to his feet in time to dodge another one. He raced towards the back of the warehouse, eyes wide, weaving and twirling, twirling and weaving. How long had he been here? How long had he been waiting for Ladybug? How long had he been running through the alleys? He'd long ago lost track of time. Nino could be long dead by now. So many people could be long dead.

He needed to turn this around somehow. But the cameras were in all directions, and moving randomly. It was a miracle that he hadn't been flashed yet. He paused. Wait a moment. It was pitch black. If he could find a reflective surface, he could bounce the light directly at The Petrifier. He wasn't sure it would freeze her or not, but it would at least blind her long enough for him to reach the phone with his cataclysm.

His eyes darted around the warehouse. He wished he had thought of that earlier, because he wasn't sure which of the thousands of boxes he was running past, leaping over, and hiding behind would have a reflective surface large enough. This would have been the perfect time for one of Ladybug's lucky charms.

Cat Noir ran his fingers through his hair. _Think, Adrien! Think!_ He hissed at himself. He stopped suddenly, as a realization hit him. He reached onto his back and opened up the bag that he had handed to Alya. Inside was simply a small metal pan. It wasn't the most reflective surface in the world, but it was the best he could get his hands on right now.

Positioning it based on where the nearest camera was to his current location, and the direction of The Petrifier, he swung his foot and kicked over a box next to him. Immediately, the camera sent a flash of light in his direction. Cat Noir threw himself to the ground, and watched the light reflect.

Then, not even taking the time to make sure it had worked, he leapt into the air and activated his cataclysm. He flew through the air towards the phone on the video camera. Right before he hit it, he noticed the time. 11:58. Two minutes to spare. Immediately upon touch, the phone disintegrated and a little black butterfly escaped.

At the same time, one of the other cameras sent out a flash that struck Cat Noir squarely in the back. And he fell to the floor. Typically, when an akuma was set free from its cage, the villain lost their power and the effects of said power vanished. As expected, Nathalie turned back into her ordinary self. But as the two flashed people fell to the floor, Cat Noir found himself still unable to move.

He only had one minute left. The akuma was right there. It would disappear in just a couple seconds… and once it had, there was no guessing where it might have gone. It would be unfindable. Every single person that had been petrified would die. It was right there… but he couldn't move. He couldn't do anything but watch.

As he lay there, staring up at the akuma, Cat Noir had a sinking feeling of failure filling not just his gut but every part of his being. He couldn't help but feel like things would have turned out differently if Ladybug were there. He didn't mean, if she'd been there to help, tho. He meant that if Ladybug ahad been fighting the Petrifier alone instead of him doing it, this would never have happened. He wasn't a hero… He wasn't even a competent sidekick… Without Ladybug, he was nothing.

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Ladybug swung through the air, scowering the area for Hawkmoth. She was only a couple of foot away, and unless Hawkmoth had a way to move super fast, she should have been able to catch up with him. All she had to do was look, and listen, for any movement whatsoever. But there wasn't any.

She swung over Roger, lying unconscious on the ground. Typically, she would have stopped to make sure he was ok, but she was on a mission right now. She did, however, find herself wondering exactly what had gone down between the two of them. Then she saw him, moving in the distance between alleyways. Hawkmoth.

Ladybug began to move faster, swinging forward closer and closer to her target. Below her, Hawkmoth began to run. He must have noticed he was being chased. Ladybug swung faster and faster, but she couldn't change direction midair, and the alleyways were like a maze. Try as she might, Ladybug couldn't seem to make any headway. It was infuriating, as infuriating as chasing an illusion.

Driven by panic, anger, frustration, and a one-minded mission, Ladybug continued her pursuit of Hawkmoth. Their chase took them into the shopping center for Paris, and it was no longer silent. Although nothing living moved, advertisements rang out everywhere, and televisions played out shows advertising how good their picture qualities were.

Hawkmoth exited the alleyways, and took off down the main road. Following him was becoming more difficult, as she couldn't just follow the sound of his feet hitting the ground anymore. However, she was still gaining on him slowly, bit by bit. Hawkmoth took a turn, raced down a side road, and stopped. He'd cornered himself, standing in a small pathway where a truck had frozen halfway through backing out onto the road.

He couldn't really retreat back out onto the road, as that would take him directly into the path of Ladybug. So instead he stood there, and got into a fighting stance. Ladybug swung to the ground and started walking towards the man who had haunted her dreams for over a year now. This was the man Tikki had come to her, asking for help to bring down.

This man was the reason she had become a superhero. And he'd done quite a few things during her time as thus that had made him a very personal enemy. She took out her yoyo and began to spin it in a circle, approaching the dead end. Then she heard a familiar voice and her eyes darted around. It was too faint to really make out, but she knew the voice well enough to know who had spoken. Alya.

Her eyes widened as Ladybug realized that the voice was coming from a store window that had been advertising television screens. Alya was running down an alleyway, attempting to dodge a passé of cameras' flashes. Periodic items were being thrown from around her and smashing into the cameras. Apparently, Alya was working with Cat Noir right now.

Shrugging, Ladybug turned her attention back to the villain in front of her. She wasn't sure if she could win, if her strength and skill were anything compared to the man who had terrified all of Paris. But she had to. Her family, friends, life… Everybody she cared about was in danger because of her. She needed to take down Hawkmoth. She needed to end this.

"Ladybug, I don't know where you are, or what you are doing… but Paris _needs_ you. Cat Noir is doing his best, but he is up against a villain more deadly than any the two of you have ever faced before. He was so desperate; he came to me for help."

Alya's pleading voice reached her ear as Ladybug stepped into the alleyway. Hawkmoth nodded his head at her, as he reached into and pulled out a dark scepter. He raised his scepter and pointed it at Ladybug with a smile. "I've been waiting for this for a very long time."

"Not as much as I have. Let me assure you," Ladybug said with gritted teeth.

"I can only assume that what you are doing is important, but excuse my impertinence. This is more so. If you don't show up, my boyfriend will die. My best friend will die. My parents will die. Cat Noir will die. And in a short period of times… thousands of others will too. The longer it takes to bring this villain down, the more deaths will be piling up. If you don't stop this villain now, you could be looking at _millions_ of deaths! Ladybug, we need you. Please…" And that was the end of the recording.

Ladybug leapt backwards just in time as Hawkmoth brought his scepter down where she had been just a couple of seconds before. "Keep your eye on your actual opponent, Ladybug. I can assure you, that is the only way you can possibly beat me."

Ladybug stepped backwards into a fighting stance. This was Hawkmoth in front of her. If she could just bring him down, everything would end. Everything would be resolved. There would be no more monsters running through Paris. No more innocents would get hurt. No more… Ladybug glanced back at the television screen with the corner of her eye. Alya sprawled out on the ground, petrified. _Drat! Drat! Drat! Drat! Drat! Drat! Drat!_

Ladybug turned her attention back toward Hawkmoth, spinning her yoyo quickly to create an air shield. Then she stepped back, glared Hawkmoth down, threw out her yoyo, caught it on the roof of the building next to her, and ran. For some reason she didn't understand, and didn't have time to worry about, Hawkmoth didn't pursue her.

What the heck was wrong with her?! Ladybug growled at herself as she flew through the air. How could she have gotten so out of control with her anger and fear that she was willing to throw _both_ her partner _and_ her best friend under the bus?! Wasn't she supposed to be a super hero? What was wrong with her?! If anything happened to Cat Noir, she knew she would never be able to forgive herself.

Ladybug threw her yoyo faster and faster, moving as fast she possibly across the skyline of Paris. She was quite familiar with the city's structure, having swung over large portions of it dozens of times, and she was fairly certain she knew where Alya was. That meant, she also knew where they had been going. The warehouse couldn't have come into view fast enough, and Ladybug immediately threw herself to the ground and raced into the building.

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"No more evil doing for you, little akuma!" The voice split through the darkness and a yoyo snatched the akuma out of the air. The yoyo then opened and a bright light issued forth. A glowing white butterfly came flapping out. " _Miraculous Ladybug!_ " Ladybug yelled, throwing her yoyo into the sky. A swirling mass of either ladybugs or small red and white flowers, Cat Noir had never been able to figure out which, came flying out, circling around him and Nathalie. Just like that, he found himself able to move.

Ladybug leaned down, took him by the arm and pulled him to his feet. "Lying down on the job, Kitty?" She asked.

Cat Noir shrugged. "Sorry, my lady. I couldn't help taking a _cat_ nap." He winked, "Eh?"

Ladybug sighed, and stepped backwards. "I'm… I'm sorry, Cat Noir. I screwed up. I was so busy dealing with my own issues… I didn't remember what my _actual_ responsibilities were." She looked at the ground. "I'm a failure as a hero."

"You?!" Cat Noir said, glancing around the warehouse. "If you hadn't shown up when you did, half of Paris' population would almost certainly have been wiped off the map. I was _here_ , and failed to do anything. I couldn't protect my partner. … I couldn't even protect myself. And despite everything I did, if you hadn't shown up when you had, that would have been the end. If anybody is a failure of a superhero… it's me."

Ladybug shook her head, and looked at the ground. "Besides," Cat Noir set his hand on her shoulder. "If I know you at all, then whatever you were distracted with was _very_ important. I can tell that whatever it is is really weighing down on you. I'm your partner, Ladybug. You can trust me. If you want to talk, I'm here to help."

"Well…" Ladybug began, hesitantly. She was promptly interrupted by a beeping sound from Cat Noir's ring. The two of them exchanged looks. "You need to run. Tell you what. Meet me in Jardin du Luxembourg, at Medici Fountain, 10pm sharp. We can talk then. Ok? Now run." She shooed Cat Noir away playfully, and he ran back into the warehouse.

Ladybug stared after him for a second. "You know," she whispered, though not sure if she was talking to herself or to Tikki. "I really… really… don't deserve a friend like him," she whispered quietly to herself, before turning and heading home.

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At long last, after much sacrifice and pain and emotional anguish, the villainous Petrifier has been brought down. But at what cost?

~ Xanatos


	6. Chapter 5: The Aftermath

How can victory be so bitter? How can success feel so wrong? What do you do when the world stops making sense? How can you go back, when everything you thought you understood about yourself was wrong?

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 **Chapter Five: The Aftermath**

Nathalie dusted herself off as she stood in her office waiting for Gabriel Agreste. Her hands were folded together as she stared at the floor in front of the painting of Adèle Agreste. A small hole opened up, and Gabriel Agreste rose out, a stern look on his face. Nathalie quickly lowered her head to him. "Nathalie," Gabriel said, nodding his head in her direction. "Quite satisfactory work today. Good job."

"But, sir… I didn't defeat Cat Noir," Nathalie protested. "And you didn't destroy Ladybug. Doesn't that mean that your plan… failed?"

"Nathalie," Gabriel smiled, shaking his head. "Haven't you figured out yet that I never come up with a plan without having both sides of the coin benefit me? You may not have _physically_ beaten Cat Noir, but you did break him. And I did the same to Ladybug. I may not have the miraculous yet, but the final battle has already been fought, and I am the winner."

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The Dupain-Chen living room was small and homely. It was a half kitchen, half dining room to be exact, and the kitchen table was a part of the counters on which food was prepared. The kitchen was Chinese, with square pink and white box lights hanging from the ceiling. Their refrigerator was bright blue and their cupboards were a somewhat darks hade of purple. The floor panels, which only extended from the bottom of the stairs to Marinette's room to the kitchen sink and to the table. Anything outside of said kitchen area was shined wood.

At the bottom of the staircase that was at one side of the room was a bookshelf and a door opened to a small passageway that allowed entrance to both the bakery and Marinette's parents room. The portion of the room left over after these two areas had been dubbed the living room area. This was where Marinette and her family spent most of their time together.

This part of the area took up about as much space as the kitchen, and there was very little floor left over. An L shaped couch with a table in front of it took up most of the space. There was also a rug, a small bean bag, and an entertainment system. Their TV was widescreen and pretty high tech, probably one of the most expensive things the family owned. It sat on a relatively, rectangular, cube shelf. This was completely filled with two Bluray player, and a pair of white speakers.

Marinette sat in said living room with her parents, silent and withdrawn. She sat on the couch, her feet on the couch as well, with her arms wrapped around her legs. She had a haunted expression on her face, and kept jumping at the slightest sound. Both her parents were sitting next to her, silently offering comfort. They didn't know what was wrong, and it was clear Marinette didn't want to speak, so they simply sat next to her, hands on her shoulders.

Marinette didn't know what was bothering her more. The fact that Hawkmoth knew where she lived and could literally walk through the door to their house at any second, or the fact that she had been so close to losing everybody that ever mattered to her. It was ironic when she thought about it.

The whole reason she'd gone after Hawkmoth was to try and protect the people she cared about. But, as it turned out, if she'd chosen to take him down, she would have pretty much killed them herself. She owed Alya more than she would ever be able to pay back, and she owed whoever that shopkeeper had been for playing the video. She owed so many people… and though a point could be made that she'd already paid it back by saving all of them… she was still ashamed.

She still couldn't shake the fact that she had come so close to losing everything. And the fact that Hawkmoth knew who she was only made things worse. He kept getting better. Day by day, his plans got more intense and she came closer and closer to losing. Simon Says. Volpina. The Petrifier.

She closed her eyes and continued rocking back and forth, back and forth. She couldn't shake the feeling that no matter what she did, she and Cat Noir were going to die. That wasn't the worst part though. What scared her most was the question of who would be going down with them.

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Adrien stared at his computer screen, the background of Ladybug staring back at him. "Big words for such a loser," he muttered to himelf. "I'd help Ladybug. Hah! I can't even protect myself. I'm a joke."

Plagg hovered next to him, chomping down on some camembert. "We won though. We should be celebrating, not pouting. Lighten up."

Adrien glanced back at Plagg. "Lighten up?!" He clicked on the web browser minimized at the bottom of the screen and opened up Alya's latest live recording post again. It was the camera chase. I'm a super hero who goes to a normal girl, ask her for help, and then get her petrified. Oh, and if Ladybug hadn't shown up when she had, Alya would have died. Me and my big mouth would have gotten _both_ of us killed?! How am I supposed to 'lighten up'?"

"Because you _didn't_ get her killed," Plagg replied. "You only _almost_ did."

"Thanks, Plagg," Adrien said, shaking his head. "That makes me feel much better."

"Adrien," Plagg sighed. "If you and Alya hadn't been trying so hard, Ladybug would have shown up too late. You checked the time. Ten more seconds and your school friends would have died. _We_ won. Lighten up."

Adrien shook his head, pushed his chair away from his computer and stood up. "No matter what I do, I'll always be inferior to her. As Cat Noir, I just don't have what it takes to protect her. I'll always be a sidekick at best, and a burden at worst." Then he paused for a moment. "Wait. The Peacock Miraculous. If…"

Plagg was looking at him, clearly offended. "We're a team, right? You and me? Are you really considering replacing me with a different Kwami?"

Adrien's hand instantly went to his forehead, which was tilted downward. "Sorry, Plagg. No, of course not. I'm just… trying to think outside of the box. Peacock Miraculous… Mom… Portrait." He froze for a moment, spun around, and pulled his chair back up to his computer. He popped open Google Chrome and typed 'Peacock Feathers' into it. As the pictures came up, he stared at them open mouthed.

Eyes… The feathers seemed to have eyes. His mother, wearing a dress of eyes. His mother was a Kwami Superhero. His mother had been Peacock! But then she'd disappeared. Now his dad kept the Miraculous hidden in a safe. Adrien frowned. His father was stern, secretive, distanced. He was always busy with one secret thing or another, and Adrien had long suspected they weren't all business related.

His father had the Peacock Miraculous. He also had a book of superheroes that he chose to keep secret for some reason. He himself was a secret. There was no reason to assume that his dad couldn't have taken up the mantle after his mother disappeared. If his dad was a superhero, that would explain a lot. "Plagg…" Adrien turned and glanced at the Kwami. "What do you think the chances are that my dad is Peacock?"

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Several hours had passed since arriving home, and Marinette was beginning to recover a little bit. She was still just as scared, and mentally screaming at herself, but she was more conscious of the world around her. She had just finished eating supper, and was sitting down on the couch with her parents. Only half paying attention to what she was doing, Marinette picked up the television remote and turned on the news.

"Telling the news, it's just the news. I'm Nadja Chamack." Marinette's eyes went to the bottom of the page. 'After the latest Hawkmoth attack takes the life of a civilian, and nearly dozens more, the people of Paris are to wonder if they can truly count on Ladybug and Cat Noir.' Marinette's eyes widened in horror, and she stood to her feet and headed up to her room.

Dead. Somebody was dead. She had made a promise to Paris that she would protect it, and the people in it. The thing was… nobody had needed to die. Hawkmoth was responsible, sure. But she didn't feel that righteous rage that she was sure she would have felt had this piece of news occurred yesterday.

It wasn't even that she had proven herself incompetent, unable to protect the city. Then she would have felt like a failure _and_ been angry at Hawkmoth. Right now, though… all the rage was pointed inward. Because she had been strong enough. She _had_ been able to win. This was, after all, the first villain the two of them had brought down _without_ her using her lucky charm. If she'd done her job properly, like a true superhero, nobody would have died.

As soon as they were back in Marinette's room, Tikki flew out of Marinette's jacket. She didn't say anything though. Simply floated there, looking at Marinette, searching for words. But what words could be said right now that would comfort the broken girl in front of her? Marinette _had_ messed up, and somebody _had_ died. And if Marinette _hadn't_ messed up, they _wouldn't_ have died. That wasn't to say Tikki blamed Marinette. No. All blame for this went to Hawkmoth. It just meant there was nothing she could say to make Marinette see it that way.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do," Marinette said as she dropped backwards onto her couch/bed. "I'm really trying to be the superhero you see in me, but I just make so many mistakes." She turned so she could stare out of her window. "And now somebody is dead. I don't get it, Tikki.

"There are so many wonderful people out there. So many people who could do so much more with you than I could. If a failure as a superhero. I'm a failure at school. I'm a failure in romance. I was always the wrong choice. But you always insisted… I was special, unique, chosen. But chosen to what? Be the Ladybug that failed to save Paris? Be the Ladybug Paris was counting on… and that they curse as they die? Tikki, I'm not strong enough for this. You chose the wrong person."

Tikki shook her head. "No, Marinette. I chose exactly the right person. I'm not expecting you to get everything right the first time. Your only a kid in a world of monsters. Things aren't always going to turn out right. You won't always get things right. But if you keep getting up, you can't lose. That's what is special about you, Marinette. No matter how many times you fall down, you always get back up."

Marinette stared out at the horizon of Paris. "I was never responsible for somebody's death before, Tikki. How am I supposed to get back up from that?"

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"Marinette! Marinette! Wake up!" Marinette eyes flew open as Tikki crashed into her face. "Oh, good. You're awake."

Marinette rolled over and looked out the window. It was pitch black. "What? It's like, super late at night, Tikki." She protested, still in her sleepy state.

"It's 11:50, Marinette. You are a heavy sleeper. I've been trying to wake you up for five minutes." Tikki replied, hastily. "If we don't hurry, you're going to be late."

"Late…" Marinette stammered, and that was when the weight of everything that had happened that morning hit her. For a brief moment, she fervently tried to convince herself that it had been nothing but a bad dream. But Tikki was flying around fervently, waiting for her to transform to go meet Cat Noir, and she didn't have time to pretend. She had blood on her hands.

Sitting up, Marinette looked at herself in the mirror, and immediately jumped to her feet and raced over to the mirror. She only had like five minutes to make herself look presentable, just like this morning. Adrien wasn't going to be there, but considering all she'd put Cat Noir through this morning, he deserved enough respect from her to make herself look presentable.

Then she was on her way, swinging through the night. Below her, the city was calm, silent, peaceful. It was as if the horrors of that morning had never happened. The torment raging inside of Ladybug wasn't reflected by the world around her. She felt out of place, like everything had changed with nothing changing. It was like her world, and the world she'd lived in all her life, were now separate entities. Nothing would ever be the same again.

The Medici Fountain was a landmark in one of Paris' most famous parks, a twenty three hectare park called Le Jardin du Luxembourg. It was a long, rectangular pool of water, with a thin marble fences lining it on all sides. On the far end, leading out of the water were three steps leading up to a marble statue of a woman and a man with a lyre.

A massive wall stood behind this, a towering Cyclops watching the two lovers from on top a boulder connected to said wall. The wall was made with stone, and had three outcroppings, the Cyclops being in the middle one. The outer ones held deities watching said event unfurl. Now that she was thinking about it, Ladybug found it a rather ironic place to choose as a secret meeting ground.

She arrived at precisely 11:59, according to her yoyo phone, but Cat Noir was already there. He didn't give her his natural smirk, or rush to greet her with a flirtatious comment as she landed next to him. He simply stood there, right hand no his left bicep, as he stared at the ground. Apparently, he hadn't had a much better day than she had.

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"Ladybug," Cat Noir said, nodding his head in her direction. "I was concerned you weren't going to show up."

"I'm a minute early," Ladybug pointed out. "How long have you been here?"

"An hour or so," Cat Noir replied with a sigh. "I needed to get out of my house."

"Such a mess," Ladybug responded quietly. "I'm sorry, Cat Noir. None of this needed to happen. If only…"

"You're right," Cat Noir said with a frown. "If only Hawkmoth hadn't shown up, if only his supervillians weren't constantly attacking the city, if only the biggest responsibility we had was living a normal life. But he _is_ here, we _are_ constantly fighting him, and it _is_ our responsibility to bring him down. At least you have the mental prowess to actually do our job properly. Because, let's face it, if you hadn't been around, I would have lost to pretty much every villain we've ever fought."

Ladybug sighed. "Well, Cat Noir, I'll tell you something I've never told anybody before. This… wasn't the first time I didn't want to fight an akumatized villain. I mean, the day I got my Miraculous, I only put it on as a spur of the moment thing. I only fought… because you were fighting. And after that fight, I took my miraculous off and put it away. I had no intention of using it. In fact, I tried to give it away to somebody else.

"In the end, I only put it back on because I had absolutely no other choice. Once again, that was a situation that you put me into. And then today… I'm not a hero, Cat Noir. You are the hero… You always make the right choice, and… I often only end up doing the right thing because of you. If I had been given the Ladybug miraculous, and you weren't Cat Noir…" She shook her head. "There would be no Ladybug without Cat Noir."

Cat Noir smiled, and it was the most genuine, sweet, and charming smile that Ladybug had ever seen on his face. She found herself needing to look away just to keep from blushing. "Thanks, I needed that. Not sure it makes me feel all that much better about my overall incompetence, but it does mean a lot to hear that from you. Thanks, My Lady." He spoke softly, gently. _She looked so cute when she was looking away from him like that!_

 _Focus, Adrien!_ He hissed at himself. "But we didn't come out here so that you could talk about how awesome I am." He flexed, finding himself slipping back into his typical Cat Noir routine. He found that Ladybug had a similar effect on his mental chaos as Marinette did. Only, she was much better at it. Plus, he was head over heels in love with this girl. "At least, I don't think we did. We can if you want though." He winked at her with a flirtatious smile.

Ladybug turned back to look at him again. Her look clearly said, _Really?_ but there was a faint sparkle in her eye, and a slight smile on her face. It disappeared almost immediately though. "I'm in trouble, Cat Noir. Deep trouble. And I don't know what I'm supposed to do about it."

Cat Noir nodded his head slowly. He knew she was in trouble. She'd had that look, like a rabbit caught in the sights of a hunter's gun. On one of the trips overseas he'd gone on with his father, Adrien's dad had taken him hunting. He'd never forgotten the look on the faces of those animals when they realized they were going to die, and that they could do nothing about it. He hadn't been able to pull the trigger. "What's wrong, my lady?"

"Hawkmoth," was the reply. And Cat Noir found himself uncertain how to best respond to that. Because, of _course_ , Hawkmoth was wrong. Right now, it felt like Hawkmoth was behind all of the evil in the world. Of course, that was highly unlikely, but it didn't change the way the world felt right now.

"… The fact that he actually killed somebody this time?" Cat Noir voiced the words that had been haunting him ever since he'd heard them. As superheroes, it was their responsibility to protect Paris. They'd committed to doing it. And now somebody was dead, and the people wanted somebody they could blame besides just a super villian in a mask hidden somewhere out of reach. It was understandable.

"Yes…" Ladybug replied, the haunted look intensifying. "But not just that. He knows who I am, Cat Noir. He knows who I am under the mask."

If somebody had dropped a pin, it would have been quite easily heard. Cat Noir didn't know what to say, what to think, or how to respond. His first instinct was to ask her if she was willing to tell him who she was under the mask, so that he could better protect her. But a voice in the back of his head argued. _Protect her? Like you protected Alya earlier today? Like you protected the man who died? Don't be ridiculous. You can't even protect yourself_. "How can you be certain?"

"I met him," Ladybug replied. "This morning I left my Kwami at my house. Sure, it was stupid. I'll readily admit to that, but she was tired and she needed sleep and I needed to go to sc… schwarma… dancing… You know what? I'm not even going to attempt to pretend that's where I was. Anyways, when the super villain appeared, I quickly ran home. Hawkmoth met me on the way there."

"You met Hawkmoth… in person… without your Kwami… and he knew you were Ladybug… and you are still alive." Cat Noir said, trying to make sure he was understanding everything correctly. It sounded really, really whacked out. "Am I understanding you right?"

"Yeah," Ladybug replied. "I got really luck…" She trailed off, a new horror beginning to dawn on her. "The person who died. Who was it?"

Cat Noir looked surprised. "You mean you don't know?"

"Sorry… I was a little busy…" Ladybug looked away from Cat Noir's stare. "… having a mental breakdown. But I need to know. Who died?"

Cat Noir could tell from Ladybug's almost cowering, haunted expression that she really didn't want to know. But she also needed to know. Why did he have to be the one to tell her? This was not the sort of thing he had planned on doing when she arrived. He was supposed to be helping her, not hurting her, as the look on her face clearly suggested he would be doing if he said. "Roger Raincomprix." He said, and Ladybug took a step backwards as if he had just struck her.

"R… R… Roger," Ladybug stammered out. "He… He…" She'd left him to face Hawkmoth herself. She'd seen him lying on the ground, and simply left him there. She hadn't even stopped to make sure he was ok. "Cat Noir… When did he die?"

"I believe it was about a second or two before you used Miraculous Ladybug." Ladybug crumpled. "M… my Lady?" Cat Noir knelt down next to her. "…Ladybug?" She just stayed there, eyes staring forward at nothing. She wasn't really present anymore. She had slipped into shock. Cat Noir sat there, his arm around Ladybug's shoulders, for what felt like hours before she finally reacted.

"I need to go home, Cat Noir," she said, her tone and face emotionless as she stood to her feet.

"But… we haven't talked solutions," Cat Noir protested. "We haven't figured out what to do about Hawkmoth." Ladybug simply shook her head, turned, and headed home. Cat Noir stood where he was, watching her go. His hand reached out towards her, but he didn't say a word.

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Ok. So… this was totally an angst chapter. Hawkmoth is a master of the mind. He wasn't meant to win the last fight. He simply meant to break his opponents, and he has done a dang good job at it.

~ Xanatos Stones

5


	7. Chapter 6: Acute Stress Reaction

Sometimes wounds hit you too deep to be expressed through words. Some wounds cut deep into our subconscious and leaves scars that take a long time to heal. Sometimes those scars are too much for our mind to consciously bare.

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 **Chapter Six: Acute Stress Reaction**

The next morning, Adrien woke up to the blaring of his alarm. Rolling over, he looked out the massive set of windows inside of his room, and pushed himself to his feet. He hadn't slept well the night before, but that didn't matter. The stipulations on his attending school were very specific about the schedule he was going to need to keep. So, he quickly got ready for the day and headed down the stairs. Plagg woke up just long enough to fly into Adrien's jacket before going back to sleep.

The moment he walked out of his room, Nathalie was in her typical spot on the upper step, watching with one eye on her wristwatch. Adrien nodded to her, before turning and heading down the stairs. His life was set on a routine, and he actually found himself grateful for that this morning. He was able to move along almost robotically from one event to the next, able to push off the horrors of the day before simply by focusing on his routine.

He was actually able to fool himself into thinking that the world hadn't really changed as much as he thought it had. His house was like a fortress that nothing could touch, but the moment he walked out the door, he could tell that the rest of Paris wasn't as untouchable. As he rode through the streets, he watched out the window.

People seemed to be in even more of a hurry than normal. There was a lot of glancing around, or glancing behind their backs. It was, as if, for the first time, the people of Paris were beginning to comprehend what it meant to be haunted by a super villain. Ladybug and Cat Noir had made the city feel safe, despite Hawkmoth's incessant attacks.

They had convinced the people that they could go about their lives without having to worry, that Hawkmoth wouldn't really be a danger. Sure, he had created many akuma, and there had been quite a lot of fear each time, but as soon as Ladybug cleared up the mess, everything would go back to normal. It was almost as if Hawkmoth were a simple commercial break from their daily lives, and as soon as it was over, there was no need to continue thinking about it.

Things were different now. Somebody had died. Sure, millions of lives had been saved over and over again, and only one person had died, but that one person was all it took. That one person was enough to wake the people of Paris up to the realization that their lives truly were in danger, and that they couldn't count on Ladybug and Cat Noir to protect them. Sure, only one person had died.

But did that really mean only one person would ever die? And if… only _one_ more of the millions living in the city were to die… would it be them? Would it be a family member? A friend? A loved one? The threat of one person's life being in danger was all it took. The people of Paris had become afraid. For the first time, the people of Paris were beginning to truly fear Hawkmoth.

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The sanctuary that was school no longer existed. This became clear the moment that Adrien stepped out of the car. There was no Nino waiting to greet him. There was no Chloe throwing herself on him and attempting to kiss him. The schoolyard was quiet, the few kids who were outside shuffled along without saying a word. It felt like entering a cemetery during a funeral, and for good reason. Roger Raincomprix's daughter was a student here.

Sabrina Raincomprix wasn't the most popular girl in school, being both Chloe's partner in crime and idolizer. Her father, on the other hand, was a very popular man. He was friendly and personable, loved to laugh and smile, and treated all the children with the same level of respect he'd give to an adult. He was a firm believer in mankind's goodness, and in the laws that governed society.

As such, Roger had climbed his way relatively high up the police ranks, and had become the go-to police officer whenever Cat Noir or Ladybug had needed to speak with one. Adrien had often thought that the world would be a better place if more people were like Sabrina's father. The world needed _more_ of that kind of person, not less.

Walking quietly into his classroom, he found that Sabrina wasn't there. That wasn't a surprise. The other abscences were a little more unexpected. Marinette wasn't there, and after the embarrassing display from yesterday, he found it somewhat bizarre that she wasn't here… again. The other person who was absent today was Chloe. He smiled slightly at that, but not for the same reason that anybody else would have.

Adrien had known Chloe as far back as he could remember, and before he'd started attending school a year ago, she was the only friend he'd ever had. Most people looked at her as this unredeemable being whose very existence was a plight on the world. But not Adrien. He always insisted that there was more to Chloe than that. And right now, he was smiling because he was certain where Chloe was. At the Raincomprix house, with Sabrina.

Marinette, on the other hand. He glanced at Alya and Nino, who were back in their normal positions now. He walked over to them and sat down in his seat next to Nino. "So," he asked glancing between them. "Where's Marinette?"

"I don't know," Alya replied, clearly just as confused as Aidren himself felt. "I haven't heard from her since yesterday." She sighed, and Nino reached up behind him and set his hand on hers. Aidren merely stared at the door and puzzled. He puzzled through first hour, and through second hour. By third hour, he had stopped puzzling and started to get worried.

As soon as third hour had, and the class was dismissed for lunch, Aidren turned to Alya. "I don't know what's up with Marinette, but I think that you should probably call her."

"I'm way ahead of you," Alya replied, as she pulled out her phone and scrolled down the list of names. She then hit the dial button and allowed the phone to ring. On the fifth ring, just when the group of friends was about to give up, the phone was answered.

"Oh… um… Hello, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng," Alya spoke into the phone. "I was wondering… um… I mean… Is Marinette ok?" Alya stood silent for several of minutes, periodically nodding and putting in the occasional 'mhm' and 'ok' so that Marinette's mom would know she was still there. Although Adrien and Nino couldn't hear what was being said from the other end of the phone, Alya's face spoke volumes. It wasn't good news.

"Thank you, Mrs. Dupain-Cheng. We'll come over right after school if that's ok. Thank you. Ok. Bye." She hung up the phone. "Apparently, Marinette's parents got permission from Principal Damocles to stay home for the next couple of days." Alya looked deeply concerned. "Apparently something happened to her yesterday during the akuma attack, and she hasn't been herself since. Right now, she's dealing with shock, and her parents thought it best she not be at school."

Alya shook her head. "I was _with_ her. We were standing in the classroom where all of our classmates were petrified. She told me to go record for my blog… and I listened!" She sat down against the wall, legs crossed Indian style. "I left her here, during an akuma attack, and _this_ ends up happening." She shook her head. "I put my blog before my best friend. How could I have done that?"

"You had no reason to believe this would be any different than all the other akuma attacks," Adrien replied. "Nobody really talked, or even thinks, about most of those just a couple of hours after they are resolved. Ladybug and Cat Noir have always taken them down no problem." _Except this time_ , Adrien frowned, _when I had to take the issue on by myself_. And now Marinette was suffering. What was the point of being a superhero if all you did was fail the people you cared about?

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The rest of school droned on at a pace that felt far slower than school _already_ felt. The moment it ended, Adrien, Nino, and Alya grabbed their bags and headed out the door. The Gorilla was waiting their with the limousine and the three piled into it immediately. Adrien had explained everything to his father, who had given permission to head to Marinette house, and to use the limo.

Arriving at Marinette's house, they knocked on the door. Marinette's mother opened it, and the three friends came inside. Mr. Dupain-Cheng was sitting on the couch in the living room, anxiously staring up the ladder that led to Marinette's room. "She's up there, sitting on her couch, staring out the window. She hasn't really moved all day."

Aidren was the first one to move, stepping onto the ladder and climbing up to Marinette's room. He knocked on the ceiling twice, before calling, "Marinette? It's me, Adrien. Would you mind letting me in?" There was no response. Nino and Alya exchanged glances. If Marinette was ignoring _Adrien,_ that in itself spoke volumes about her current state. Adrien knocked again. "Marinette?"

Adrien paused for a moment, his shoulders drooping. "Alright. If you don't want me to come up, I'll give you to the count of three to lock the door or tell me so. If you don't say anything, I'll take that as permission. One. Two. Three." No response. Glancing down at Nino and Alya, who were motioning for him to go up, Adrien pushed open the trap door over his head and stepped up into Marinette's room.

Marinette sat exactly where her parents had said she was, on her little couch staring out the window. Adrien walked over and sat down next to her. "Marinette?" he asked again, this time setting his hand on her shoulder. Marinette didn't really say anything, but she did turn her head away from the window to look at Adrien. He instantly became certain he had found something that would haunt his nightmares for years to come.

Never had he seen a look so... empty. It was as if all emotion had been drained from the girl's face. Her eyes were glazed over, as if she were half asleep, only half present in the room. Her mind had gone into hibernation mode and she was just functioning on autopilot. "Adrien," she whispered quietly. "What are you doing here?"

"We're here because we were concerned about you," Adrien replied. He motioned to Alya and Nino. "We thought some company might be appreciated."

"Hm," Marinette replied, turning her head back towards the window. "The world looks so peaceful from up here," she said as she stared out at the world. She didn't say anything else, and the three friends simply sat in silence. Nobody knew what to say or do, but none of them were willing to leave things as they were.

More than once, Adrien began to speak, but decided against it. Bringing up the event right now was probably not the right thing to do, even if he was sincerely telling her he wish he'd been there for her. All of his life, he'd felt powerless. But the last couple of days had made a point of teaching him just _how_ powerless he was. He couldn't do his job as a superhero, couldn't protect his partner from their enemy's plans, and couldn't even figure out what to say to a grieving friend. In all things that mattered, he was powerless.

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"I must admit," Gabriel Agreste said thoughtfully, as he stood in his office, looking at the picture of his wife, but speaking to Nathalie. He stood firm and stiff, his face set in a stern expression. "I don't entirely approve of my own methods." Nathalie gave a confused look. "Although an incompetent who would never have been able to be useful if the situation had called for it, Adrien would still demand I admit that Roger Raincomprix was a good man. Killing him in cold blood like that doesn't sit well with me."

"But necessary evils are sometimes required for the greater good, right Mr. Agreste?"

"Greater good, yes," Gabriel replied, his nod firm and resolute. "But there is no way Adèle would have approved of this." He turned his head to look at the pictures of Adrien. "And I don't really approve of it either." He stepped away from the picture and stepped over to the wall adorned with photos of Adrien.

"I never wanted my son to get mixed up in this mess. And I hate what I am having to do to him. I should feel quite pleased with myself at the degree to which I have broken Ladybug. But the fact that my friend considers the girl such a great friend makes the situation that much more delicate. This is going to be one of those victories I do not enjoy at all."

"Then let's end it, and move on," Nathalie said, stepping up beside him. "Cat Noir has lost all belief in himself, and Ladybug is currently in shock. Plus, Paris is absolutely terrified of Hawkmoth at the moment. The timing couldn't be more perfect. You've set the scene so meticulously. Why not end it today?"

Gabriel glanced at the portion of the floor that he used when descending to his chamber. Sabrina would probably be the easiest one to possess. She was probably hurting more than anybody else right now, and he could quite sell her on the blame for her father's death being Ladybug. From there, it would be easy enough to get his hands on the Miraculous. Yes. This would work…

His thinking was interrupted by a phone call. Gabriel quickly grabbed the phone and checked the number. Then he promptly rolled his eyes. "Yes, Gabriel Agreste here. What did you screw up this time, you imbecile?"

After a moment on the phone, Gabriel hung up and turned to Nathalie. "We'll have to postpone the endgame a couple of days. Don't worry. Cat Noir and Ladybug won't be climbing out of this hole any time soon." Then he turned and strode out the door. "When I get back, Nathalie, this game of cat and mouse will finally be over."

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Marinette opened her eyes as the sun came streaming through her window. Three days had passed since the events of the Petrifier. Three days, she'd wavered in and out of consciousness as sleep eluded her. Adrien, Nino, and Alya had been there every day, doing their best to make her feel loved.

And in that time, there hadn't been another akuma attack. Hawkmoth hadn't come bursting into her room to take away her Miraculous. Paris hadn't made up their minds whether or not they still liked Ladybug and Cat Noir. The feeling of fear and gloom in the outside air hadn't lightened at all, but nothing had _happened_. Life, that thing that should have already ended, audaciously continued on.

She stood to her feet and stretched. How long had it been since she'd eaten? She didn't really remember. She couldn't remember much from the last couple of days. They were mostly just a blur. But the funeral for Roger Raincomprix was today, and as undeserving as she was to attend, Ladybug needed to be there. The people of Paris deserved to know how the courageous police officer had died.

Her mind immediately shoved the thought away, unwilling to relive that moment again. "Tikki?" she asked, and the red Kwami immediately left her bed and flew over to Marinette.

" _Marinette!_ " Tikki hugged Marinette's cheek tightly. "You're up, and moving around, and… and… and…" She paused. "Are you ok?"

"No," Marinette replied, quietly. "But I'm functional now. I can't just sit in my room for the rest of my life, can I?" She glanced back at the chair/couch. "As much as I may like to. I don't really look forward to facing the world right now."

"Don't worry," Tikki replied, in a gentle, soothing voice. "You don't have to do it all right away, and you won't ever have to do it alone."

Marinette walked over to her makeup table and slowly began to get ready for the day. Her hands were slightly shaky, and the world felt somewhat off kilter. The world around her still didn't feel… real. It was like she was wondering through a dream, as if at any moment she could wake up, and find that this last week had been nothing but a bad dream.

Her mind still felt numb, as exemplified by her lackluster reaction to the realization that her pictures of Adrien were still coating her walls. Adrien had been there the last several days. There was no way he couldn't have seen them. It was a sluggish thought process, lacking any sense of alarm or worry. It was just a fact.

After readying herself for the day, Marinette opened trapdoor on the floor and slowly made her way down to the living room. Still not quite steady, Marinette made her way to the couch in the living room, where she promptly plopped down. That was where she was sitting when her parents came in from the bakery to eat something for lunch. "Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad." Marinette said as they entered the room. She raised her hand in greeting.

Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng promptly forgot about their lunch and ran over to their daughter. They quickly embraced her, and told her to take things at her own pace. There was no need to rush. They also advised her to try to avoid anything that might cause her to become overwhelmed with the memories that had caused the shock in the first place. She didn't respond that it was impossible for her to do that. Roger Raincomprix's funeral was tomorrow, and she needed to be there as Ladybug. She needed to be.

The next few hours, the Dupain Cheng family hung out together and had a relatively low key day. They ate popcorn, watched a comedy, told jokes, and played a board game. Adrien, Nino, and Alya arrived shortly after the game was over. A third time, Marinette found herself heartily embraced and asked if she was ok. A third time she assured she was, and a third time she was told not to worry about taking things too fast.

Adrien, Nino, Alya, and Marinette headed up to Marinette's room, where they hung out until the wee hours of the morning, laughing, and telling stories, and just being in each others' company. As Nino, Alya, and Adrien were heading home at the end of the night, Marinette set her hand on Adrien's shoulder. "I wanted to thank you guys for coming to see me the last couple of days. I don't remember much, but I remember that you guys were there for me. Thank you."

The three turned back around and Adrien said, "We always will be, Marinette. It doesn't matter what happens to you or what kind of trouble you end up in, we'll _always_ be there for you." He smiled at her the smile that had always warmed her heart, and even in the muggy, out of it state she was in, the smile made her heart jump in her chest. "Goodnight, Marinette." And then he closed the door.

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Yeah. This was another angst chapter, but I kind of feel like Adrien/Marinette moments come out best in screwed up situations.

Also, just fair warning, Marinette won't be fully getting over her PSD for quite a while. Hawkmoth really did a number on her.

Well, hope you enjoyed. If you have any thoughts, questions, or just want to say you enjoyed my story, I would very much appreciate your reviews. Funeral chapter coming up next. Peace Off.

~ Xanatos


	8. Chapter 7: The First Day Back At School

There are some wounds too deep for time alone to heal. Other wounds time can never heal. When such wounds occur, one can sit back and let their life simply fade away, or they can attempt to push forward, swallow their pride, and attempt to make a new beginning.

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 **Chapter Seven: The First Day Back At School**

When Adrien's alarm went off, he jumped to his feet and turned it off. His spirits were about as high as they had been since the disastrous Petrifier incident a couple of days prior. It wasn't so much that today was perfect. On the contrary, the day promised to be depressing as heck, but he wasn't thinking about that at the moment.

At the moment, he simply felt happy to be alive. The reason was simple. The last several mornings had contained nothing but dread, dread, and more dread. This morning, his first thought was how his friend Marinette would be coming back to school today. Having spent the last several days attempting to interact with what felt at times like an inanimate object, he couldn't express just how relieved he was Marinette was beginning to recover.

It was clear she had a long way to go before she was back to her old self, but for the first time in several days, Adrien had hope she might actually recover. It was a wonderful feeling he couldn't even put into words. So, he left his room whistling, nodded to Nathalie, who blinked in surprise from her spot on the stair, and accidentally bumped into his father.

"Dad!" Adrien said in surprise, his emotions instantly becoming the muddled mess they always were when he was around. He loved his dad, and he knew his dad loved him, but there was so much baggage in their relationship. His father was a somewhat selfish man, always keeping himself at a distance and putting his own interests first, but Adrien had never doubted the man loved him in his own way. Often it wasn't easy to feel that love, though.

"Adrien," Gabriel said, looking a bit surprised himself. "Aren't you a little bit ahead of schedule?" He smirked a little at the question. Adrien was infamous for pushing the schedule to its limits, often going over them a little bit. Be at the photo shoot no latter than 9:05 would mean he was either there at shortly before 9:05 became 9:06, or on the occasional occurrence, at 9:06. He was never more than a minute late, unless something big was going on, but he also seemed to make a point of _not_ being there early.

"Yes, actually," Adrien replied. "It's just… I'm…" Gabriel smiled at the excitement in his son's voice. "Marinette's finally coming back to school today."

Gabriel had to fight to keep the smile on his face. "You mean the baker girl who was suffering from acute shock?"

"Yeah," Adrien replied. "Nino, Alya, and I have been at her house keeping her company the last couple of days. Yesterday, she finally started looking like she was going to recover!"

Gabriel breathed in calmly. "Well, that's wonderful news. Don't get too excited, though. Remember, we have a funeral to attend this evening. Beaming smiles aren't welcome there. Until then, have a good day." He glanced up at Nathalie and said, "Nathalie. I want to speak to you in my office." He glanced at his son and nodded his head. "Adrien won't have a problem getting to school on time today."

Nathalie nodded, and Adrien raced down to the kitchen to eat breakfast and get his lunch together.

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"We need to act now," Nathalie said, as soon as Adrien had left the house. "If Adrien is right, we already missed the best time for taking down Ladybug. If we put it off any longer…"

Gabriel smirked, standing in his typical spot beside the painting of Adèle . "Apparently, you don't know much about Acute Shock, do you Nathalie?"

"I can't say it's something I've spent much time looking into. No."

"It will be best to wait until after the funeral," Gabriel replied. "There will be too much stimuli. The memories will crush her slightly recovered mentality, and she will end up much worse off than she is right now. Her recovery will be nothing but a passing fancy."

Nathalie frowned. "If it's really so dangerous for her, how can you be certain she'll be there? What I mean, Mr. Agreste, is… don't you think counting on her going to a place so hazardous to her health is a bit of a gamble?"

"Not at all." Gabriel grinned. "This is Roger Raincomprix we are talking about, and she is Ladybug. She blames herself for his death, for good reason I might add, and she's going to want Paris to know how he died. He died a hero's death after all, and right now, the entire world merely assumes he died a victim of my akuma. She won't care about her own safety. Ladybug never has. She'll be there." _And then I'll crush that little bug between my fingers_ , he added silently.

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"Marinette!" Tikki called out for the third time, calling Marinette back to reality. She was having a hard time focusing, her mind more accustomed to pushing out the world around her. The sounds, lights, even the mundane objects in front of her on the makeup table, seemed to hiss at her in disdain. It was as if no matter where she looked, something was trying to remind her of the horrible things she had done.

"We don't have to go to school today, Marinette. You are still recovering," Tikki landed on her shoulder. "Like all your friends said, 'there's no need to rush.'"

"But there _is,_ Tikki," Marinette replied, running her brush through her hair again. "If I can't even function at school, how am I supposed to do what I need to do at the funeral?"

The funeral. Just the word sent images of Roger lying on the ground as she soared above rolling through her head. They sent images of Hawkmoth standing in front of her, hand outstretched. Cat Noir lying frozen on the ground. Alya being frozen by an army of cameras. All the events she had attempted to force out of her head came flooding back, and Marinette found herself beginning to sweat and hyperventilate.

"Breathe, Marinette. Breathe!" Tikki whispered, her soothing voice bringing Marinette's mind back to the world around her. Marinette's heart rate and breathing began to slowly go back down. "I don't think I need to tell you how bad an idea you going is."

"Tikki," Marinette said as she stood to her feet. "I'm going. You can't talk me out of it." She looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a spring dress with a frilly bottom layer and white flowers on the pink skirt portion that went down to slightly below her knees. The top was also pink, with a white rose over her heart. She looked at herself for a moment and nodded, before turning and heading down the stairs.

"Plus, Adrien is looking forward to seeing me at school." She spun around and watched the skirt twirl. "I don't want to let him down." She was putting on a bright face for Tikki, but she wasn't really as confident about this whole endeavor as she was letting on. She knew she wasn't going to be doing well at school today, and she knew the funeral would probably be the most painful experience she'd ever go through. But she needed to do it. Roger Raincomprix deserved that much.

When Marinette stepped off the ladder leading to the living room, her parents greeted her with a smile. "You look wonderful, dear." Sabine Cheng, Marinette's mother, said with a smile. "That's a lovely dress. You still planning on going to school?"

"Yes," Marinette said, nodding her head. "Not sure how well I'll do there, but I've decided to go. Little steps, right Mom?"

"Little steps," Sabine said with a smile. "Exactly."

Marinette's dad, Tom Dupain, set his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Marinette. I just wanted you to know that. Also, if you are going to school, I'm going to be driving you. I don't want you walking around the city alone right now."

That was a relief, because Marinette _also_ didn't want herself walking around the city right now. Considering how many times she'd zoned out or nearly had a heart attack just getting ready for the morning, the walk to school was something she had been dreading. Of course, she'd have to do it this afternoon… and as Ladybug no less. Just the thought of putting on the suit again made her shudder.

"Thanks, Dad," Marinette said leaning forward on her tip toes and kissing him on the cheek. Afterwards, she promptly lost her balance and landed on her butt. She smirked at herself. Been a while since she'd done that considering how little she'd been moving around. It was a reminder things were beginning to get slowly get back to normal.

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The drive to school was quiet, Marinette keeping to her own thoughts. She didn't want to tell her dad what was going through her head. Things like, Hawkmoth could attack them at any moment, or an akumatized villains could be hiding around the next corner they took.

Her eyes took in the birds flying overhead, the man whispering to his daughter on a street corner, the balloon drifting lazily into the sky in front of them. It was irrational to consider any of this posed a threat to her, but rationality had little to do with how she was feeling at the moment. Around the next corner, she jolted forward in her seat.

She could see into the nearest alleyway, and saw Alya lying there, her phone inches from her hand. Her face was a mixture of fear and distress. Marinette blinked, and the image was gone. She closed her eyes, put her hands to her head, and slowly breathed in and out, in and out. By the time the car arrived at school, Marinette had managed to calm herself down. Looking out at all of the students making their way into the school, Marinette found her determination to go waning. She really didn't feel safe in a crowd right now.

"Marinette?" Tom asked, his tone loving and filled with compassion. "We can still go back if you want."

That was when Adrien's car pulled up. "No," Marinette said, as she reached over and opened the car door. "Thanks, papa, but I'm going to be ok." She paused. "Are you… going to pick me up from school too?"

"Yeah," Tom said, smiling reassuringly, and encouragingly, at his daughter. "I'll be here. Be safe, ok?"

"Ok," Marinette said, before turning and making her way over to Adrien. A few days before, this would have been a simple, short, walk while sweating over what to say to Adrien and making a complete fool of herself with her awkwardness. Today, it was infinitely harder. She felt like every eye was on her, every conversation about her, every person a possible enemy.

It didn't help that everybody around her felt uneasy. She felt like the world could tilt at any moment and throw her off into nothingness. She took another step, and another, but she felt dizzy, unstable, like the world was falling away. Too many people… too much noise... She felt somebody's gentle grip on her arm stabilizing her. "Marinette," Adrien said gently. "Good to see you up and about. Let's try to keep it that way, alright?"

Marinette immediately blushed. "Th-thanks." She didn't pull away like she would almost certainly have done a couple days prior. That was more likely due to the unrealistic feel the world had currently adorned than a change in emotional reactions to embarrassment. Adrien offered her his arm for support, and Marinette found herself taking it. Together, they slowly made their way into the school.

Nobody spoke to Marinette, unsure what exactly they should or shouldn't say. Her fragility at the moment was clear and on display. Her classmates looked like they wanted to say something to her, to reassure her everything was going to be ok, but none of them did. It was likely out of a supposition they might accidentally say the wrong thing and make matters worse.

The two made their way into the classroom, where Nino had once again taken a seat next to Alya. This time it wasn't out of a nymph-ish desire to tease Marinette though. Rather, Alya and Nino had agreed Adrien was the best when it came to taking care of Marinette. As such, Adrien would be sitting by her during class, at least until she was fully recovered.

Miss Bustier greeted Marinette with a smile when she entered the room. "Marinette, it's wonderful to see you with us again. Class, I expect you to treat Miss Dupain-Cheng with care." The students in the class echoed back agreement. Marinette tried not to let the extra attention bother her. She also tried not to imagine a supervillian shattering the window in their classroom and coming after her.

Time wove by in an endless dance. Marinette remained calm, reserved, and completely detached from the world around her. It was somewhat like she had been for the three days in her room. The world sort of rushed by, and she was vaguely aware of what was going on around her. More accurately put, it felt like everything around her was fake, unreal, dreamlike.

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Ladybug knelt over the fallen police officer, holding the hand of his lifeless body. Ever so slowly, his head turned in her direction. The eyes were vacant, and his skin was pale. He was unmistakably dead. "Marinette…" Roger whispered, his voice whispy and ghastly. "How could you let me die? You could have done something. I saved your life, and you simply left me lying there to die." His hands clenched, becoming more bony and stiff. "You should be the one who died, Marinette. You should be the who is going to be buried today." His hand reached towards her threateningly. " _Give me your life, Marinette!_ "

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"Marinette?" Marinette nearly jumped out of her seat, her eyes wide and darting around the classroom looking for the danger she was certain was about to pounce. Her heart was beating fast and full scale panic had begun to set in. "Easy," A hand on her shoulder, and the voice felt a little more familiar this time. Adrien. Right… She was in school… Alya and Nino were watching her with concern, and Adrien was sitting next to her with his hand on her shoulder. But the rest of the room was empty.

Marinette instantly buried her face in her hands for the umpteenth time that day. She felt like crying, terrified, horrified, shaken. Her emotions were a bundled mess, giving her the most horrible blended emotion she had ever experienced. Yet, at the same time, the emotions felt distant, like… if she reached for them, they would dash just out of reach, giggling like twisted nymphs. She needed to be alone. She quickly brushed Adrien's hand off her shoulder and rushed out of the room.

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When Alya went to follow Marinette, Nino gently set his hand on her shoulder. "Not a good time, Girl. Let her be." He looked like that was the last thing he wanted to do either, and this more than anything, convinced Alya not to race after Marinette.

Adrien simply sat there quietly. Yeah… he sighed. He'd been slightly concerned going to school might be too much for her right now. She hadn't been out of her house in four days, and then suddenly decided to spend an entire day at school. Adrien was suddenly feeling quite restless himself. He stood up and stepped out of his aisle. "Go ahead and eat lunch without me today, guys. I need some time to think."

But as he made his way to the schoolyard, he asked himself if that was really the best thing for him right now. Marinette's departure had shattered the cloud of willfull ignorance he'd been under all day. Because, to be honest, there were a number of things worrying him. Marinette's condition was a big one. But he was also still struggling with the meaning behind the mysterious book and peacock miraculous his dad hid in a safe alongside a picture of his mother.

Perhaps the biggest thing he was worrying about right now was actually Ladybug. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of her since their night in the park. Sure, no akuma had attacked since then, which meant there was no reason for her to turn into Ladybug, but that didn't allay his fears. Hawkmoth knew who she was, knew where she lived, who her friends and family were. He had a hard time accepting that he wouldn't have acted out against Ladybug by now.

He'd tried calling Ladybug, but he'd never gotten a response. He'd tried searching for her, but hadn't found hide nor hair. He was deeply concerned. After all, if Hawkmoth knew who she was, he wouldn't necessarily need an akuma to take her down. Adrien couldn't simply assume she was safe because no super-villian had shown up. And, of course, he had to add to his list of concerns the funeral he was going to be attending with his dad.

A part of him wanted to ditch school, to just… disappear for the rest of the day. Sure, it would end badly with his father having a heart attack, Natalie quite possibly getting fired, and him losing the privilege of attending an actual school where he had actual friends. But at the moment, with everything going on, all of that seemed of little consequence.

He needed to make sure ladybug was ok… but he didn't have the slightest clue where to begin looking. He needed to help Marinette, but he wasn't sure his attempts to help weren't making things worse. He needed to do a lot of things he wasn't capable of doing right now. So… he wanted to run. He wanted to hide. He wanted to crawl into a hole and not come out ever again. He couldn't do that.

He couldn't even run away for a short period of time and clear his head. There was no way he could leave while Marinette was the way she was right now. She shouldn't be at school, but he was fairly confident she wouldn't call her dad and ask for a ride home. The _least_ he could do was be there for her while she was here. As a superhero guardian of Paris, it was downright shameful it was _all_ he could do, but he would do the best he could – as little as it may be.

"As soon as we are done at the funeral, I am ditching the schedule and going somewhere nobody will be able to find me," Adrien muttered to Plagg.

"Ok," Plagg whispered out of the jacket. "How about the dump?"

"The… dump? Why in the world would I go there?"

"The dump has all kinds of cool things," Plagg replied. "You forget I have to watch the anime you keep putting in too. Lots of those shows have kids finding cool things at the dump."

Adrien nodded. "Fair enough. After the funeral, I guess Cat Noir is going to the dump."

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Apparently this chapter is _not_ the funeral chapter. That's going to be the next one. I must admit I had no idea writing a character struggling with a real life mental disorder would take so much brainpower and research time. I hope I portrayed it properly, and will continue to do my best.

{I apology if any of the screw ups I may, or may not, have made offends anyone who actually struggles with this disorder.}

As always, dear audience. Have a wonderful day, and please join me for the next installment.

~ Xanatos Stones


	9. Chapter 8: Saying Goodbye

Sometimes, there are things one has to do. It doesn't matter if they are good for you, comfortable, painful even. There are some things that cannot be avoided. And sadly… death is one of those things.

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 **Chapter Eight: Saying Goodbye**

The rest of the school day went by relatively well, at least, as far as Adrien could tell. Marinette lost her focus a few times, and he would gently nudge her back to reality. Her eyes would dart around the room periodically, as if checking to make sure they weren't about to be attacked. On a number of occasions, she buried her head in her hands for reasons that Adrien couldn't figure out. She looked scared, tense, frustrated, in pain, but mostly just… sad.

Never before had Adrien wanted to let somebody know he was Cat Noir so much. He considered so many times leaning over and whispering into her ear, "Don't worry. I'm Cat Noir. I'll protect you." And if he thought it would help, he most certainly would have. But Cat Noir had always been thought less reliable than Ladybug, and Alya's video hadn't helped matters.

Once Roger's death had been added to that list, and Ladybug herself had her competence being questioned, nobody seemed to care the slightest about Cat Noir. Plus, he wasn't at all sure he could keep the promise _had_ he made it. He was fairly confident nobody had less of an opinion of Cat Noir than he himself did. Needless to say, the school day ended with neither teen having the slightest clue what had been taught that day.

Marinete stood shakily to her feet, and Adrien offered her his hand again. He led her gently out the doors, and… well… He had been expecting to have to wade her through a crowd of students, but the middle of the school hallway was empty. The students were pressed against the sides in a way reminiscent of the story of Moses and the Red Sea.

He could tell, from looking at a few of them, they weren't trying to be judgment or rude. The looks in their eyes showed nothing but concern. They didn't want her to feel suffocated or crowded. They'd seen how she looked in the class, and were simply trying to make her feel safe. Adrien felt appreciation and gratitude was over him as he was reminded of how lucky he was to be attending a school like this. Marinette, on the other hand, looked quite embarrassed.

Adrien pushed open the front door to the school and made his way down to the road where Tom and The Gorilla had their cars parked. Adrien opened the door to Marinette's car with his free hand and helped her inside before turning and climbing into his father's car. As they sped away, Adrien continued staring back at Marinette's retreating back. He found himself hoping she didn't plan on attending Roger Raincomprix's funeral.

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Marinette was absolutely miserable. She couldn't say it aloud, especially not with Adrien being such a perfect gentleman to her all day long. She knew just a few days ago, this would have been a dream come true for her. It was the sort of thing she'd dreamed about for over a year. As it happened, though, she simply felt empty inside. Every emotion she wanted to come out just… didn't. She merely felt hollow. The worst part of the day had been herself.

She was aware she was off, that there was something wrong with her. The fact that she felt the child sucking a lollipop might be a threat made it very clear. The fact that she could be with Adrien _all_ day, literally leaning against him and having her arm in his, and just feel empty… feel alone… disturbed her.

The fact that she couldn't stop feeling threatened by the classmates she'd spent over a year with, the fact she didn't feel safe sitting in her classroom, the fact she couldn't get herself to focus, and the fact she kept seeing horrible visions of Alya frozen, Cat Noir destroyed by an akuma, and Roger Raincomprix attempting to steal her life, terrified her. She felt like she had literally lost control of her own mind. Like she was broken.

Tom could tell his daughter was troubled, and wisely chose to stay out of it. The short ride home was spent in silence. As soon as the car stopped outside of the bakery, she stepped out and noticed the 'CLOSED' sign over the door. Had her parents opened the bakery even once since she'd gotten sick? Her friends had never seen it open when they came by, according to Nino. She was costing her family a lot of money, and a lot of stress. She regretted that too.

Tom parked the car in front of his bakery, before getting out and opening his daughter's door for her. As he helped her down from the car, Marinette whispered to her father. "Papa, I… I'm sorry."

Tom immediately paused. "Sorry, Marinette?"

"For… for all of this, for being a burden, for…" The tears she had been fighting back all day began to pour now. "For… being me." Tom immediately pulled his daughter close in a bear hug.

"Marinette," he whispered quietly. "Don't… don't ever apologize for that. We love you, and we wouldn't trade you for anything in the world."

Marinette fought to speak through the tears, her face buried in her hand as she wept miserably. It was unfair her parents had to put up with her problems, with her pain, with her mess. She didn't deserve any pity. She didn't deserve any sacrifice. She'd made the choices herself, one by one, and it was _her_ failures that had put her in this mess. And yet, everybody kept being so kind to her, kept sacrificing for her, kept putting themselves out in order to help her. And the shame hurt so much.

The pain was too much to bare, especially when she knew Hawkmoth was watching her. That everybody who was kind to her, sacrificing to help her with the mess she had gotten herself into, was putting their lives in danger. She knew if anybody ever got hurt because of her again… She would lose what little semblance of sanity she still had. "You… you don't know," Marinette whispered. "You don't know the things I've done."

"Marinette," Tom reached down and took his daughter's hand from in front of her face, leaning down and looking into her tear-stained eyes. "No matter what you do, and no matter what mistakes you make, your mother and I will _always_ love you. You are the most precious thing we have, and that will never change."

"But I don't deserve…" Marinette mananged to choke out.

"It isn't about deserving, Marinette," Tom whispered to his daughter, cupping her face with his hand. "Love has nothing to do with what you deserve. It's something you do for better or worse, in sickness or in health. Marinette, if love is dependant on what you do, or do not, do, it isn't love." He wiped her tears with his shirt sleeve. "You are our daughter, Marinette, for better _and_ for worse. Please, don't ever apologize for being who you are."

Tom stood back up and led Marinette back into their house. Marinette didn't say anything, struggling with what her father had just told her. It felt… wrong. Not what he had said so much as the very concept. Unconditional love was irrational. Sure, she'd heard about it a million times, and heard the marriage vows recited on many different occasions.

But when one made it personal, and they had screwed up as much as she had, it didn't seem fair that she was still given love. Not only didn't she deserve it, but she couldn't give anything back in return. It felt selfish to take it from them, but she wasn't sure what to do about it. They were going to keep giving it no matter what she said. And to be honest, that felt wonderful.

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Adrien stood alone in his room, looking at the dark suit coat he had just put on. Plagg was floating next to him giving a thumbs up look. "Pretty jazzy," he said in approval.

Adrien nodded at the Kwami gratefully. His welcome home hadn't gone nearly as well as Marinette's. Gabriel Agreste hadn't even noticed his son was trouble. He'd simply nodded at the boy and said, "We leave in an hour. Make sure you are ready before then." And then headed off to his office.

It wasn't that Adrien had expected his father to notice he was troubled. The man was far too focused on himself to really notice what was going on around him. He always had so much on his plate, so many secret plans, unscheduled meetings, and sudden meetings with Nathalie in his office. He barely took time to relax, take a breather, have a snack. He shoved everything that didn't fit into his immediate goal to the back of his mind, and Adrien had come to accept that this was where he would always be in relation to his father.

However, Adrien hadn't, and probably never would, come to terms with it emotionally. He still always hoped his father would take time for him… and was constantly left disappointed. He wanted so badly to open up to his father about his struggles, about his shame. He wanted to ask his father where he got that unbridled determination from, how he let nothing bother him, how he seemed so… indomitable. He wanted to know what made his father so strong.

His father wasn't a companion, though. He wasn't a buddy. Adrien even had a hard time calling the man a friend. He was a guy who shared his house, loved him, and yet treated him like a stranger. They may have been the only two people living in that house, but ever since his mother's disappearance, Gabriel Agreste had become little more than a stranger to his son. Plagg found himself, more often than not, filling that position.

"You ever wonder what it would be like to be somebody else?" Adrien asked as he stared into the mirror. "If you could live life like you do in an RPG, pick your base stats, your race, your gender, your personality, and then just… shape your life however you want, no limits?" He didn't say the end of his thoughts aloud, not even to Plagg. _Instead of a superhero whose limits are so abundantly clear?_

"Life isn't a game," Plagg replied, nibbling on a piece of Camembert he had taken from a little fridge Adrien had set up in his room a couple of days ago. "There is no rewind button or save feature. That's what makes it so interesting." He paused and rolled over in the air.

"Adrien, you do realize what you want is called unlimited power, right? Be careful about that." His voice took on an unsettlingly serious tone, especially when considering it was nonchalant and never serious Plagg speaking. "You won't like where that thought process will lead you. It _never_ ends well."

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"As the funeral preparations are nearly completed, talk as begun about what is to be done about Cat Noir and Ladybug," Nadja Chamack "Paris has been in an uproar ever since our heroes failed to save the beloved Lt. Roger Raincomprix. There are those who say we have put too much pressure on our heroes, who are, as far as we know, also mere humans.

"Others argue if they can't deliver on their promises of protection, we are better off without them around. As of yet, there has been no action taken in either direction, but once the funeral honoring the lieutenant is over, it is unlikely the mayor will allow this dispute to continue. I will return to continue this debate once there is furether news. This is Nadja Chamack, signing off."

Marinette sat numbly, staring at the TV. She was exhausted, worn down, restless. Her parents were rushing around getting ready for the funeral, and considering they had never prompted Marinette to get ready, they clearly weren't expecting her to go. Instead, she had merely dropped down onto the couch and turned on the TV. It had been set to the news, and immediately set to work reminding her just how much of a failure she was.

Reaching over, stiffly, she picked up the TV remote and turned the television back off again. She was shaking, ever so slightly. She couldn't even handle hearing the name Roger Raincomprix without it throwing her feeble attempt at emotional control into chaos. The world around her was wavering in and out of focus, and her eyes kept darting around like a mouse cornered by a cat. She felt panic building up inside her mind again…

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Ladybug was standing on a ledge overlooking a river, staring down into the murky, violent rapids. She felt an urge to jump, throw herself into the water and let it slip away. It was beckoning to her, calling her forward. She shouldn't… but she wanted to… she needed to… the silence… the freedom… the darkness… Escape. She was about to take a step forward, plummet to the freedom of nothingess, when she saw something drifting down the river. A boat…

It was driven by a man in a long black cloak, a long stick going in and out of the water pulling it forward and back. There was no doubt it was the Grim Reaper, and this was the river Styx. Her heart nearly stopped when she saw who was sitting in the boat behind the reaper, Adrien Agreste. As if this wasn't enough, when she turned her head in the direction he had come from, she could see several more boats approaching. Papa, Mama, Alya, Nino… Anybody and everybody she had ever cared about was being taken down the River Styx.

"Pitiful, isn't it?" The voice was familiar, but decidedly more cruel and vicious. Marinette turned to see Tikki, a decidedly demonique look on her face. "You were the Chosen One, a Ladybug for the records. You were supposed to bring down Hawkmoth, save Paris, and inspire the world. Instead, you've left the world an empty husk, allowed Hawkmoth to gain ultimate power, and left a legacy of despair."

Ladybug swallowed. "Goodbye," Tikki said, throwing her weight against Ladybug, causing the bug to lose her balance and tumble off the ledge. As she fell, Tikki began to laugh a hellishly. "I hope you know how to swim. Not that it will do any good where you are going."

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Marinette instantly jolted back up, eyes darting around the room. Her parents weren't there anymore, and the sun was beginning to set outside. How long had she been asleep? Marinette scrambled to her feet, glancing at the clock. It was 4:05, meaning the funeral had already started. If she was going to get there and say what she needed to say, she needed to leave now!

"Tikki!" She yelled out, but instantly shuddered and clamped her mouth shut. The demon version of Tikki darted in front of her eyes, and she placed her hand in front of her eyes to block it out. It enfuriated her, and she forced herslf to lower her hand. She knew Tikki, and she wasn't some kind of monster, whatever her screwed up mind said. It didn't stop the shuddering, or the rapid beating of her heart. She was broken. Her body no longer saw any reason to listen to her.

"Marinette!" Tikki called, flying down from, and through, the trap door that was the entrance to Marinette's room. "I thought you had changed your mind about this."

"No, Tikki," Marinette swallowed. "I need to do this. Afterwards… I don't know, but I _need_ to do this." She quickly scrambled up the ladder, missing a rung and nearly falling down onto the living room floor. She managed to steady herself, opened the door to her room and raced into her closet. She brought out the only black dress she had and laid it onto her bed.

"Tikki," she yelled. "Spots on!" And the transformation began. Immediately, Marinette's heart began to thump violently, painfully. Her breathing became unsteady, and her head began to hurt. Her entire body ached, as if rejecting the transformation. Her mind began to scream silently, and panic began to swell up inside of her mind.

She couldn't think properly. Every mistake, every shame, every regret, every selfish act, the fight with Hawkmoth, the near loss of Cat Noir and Alya, the moment when she soared above Roger Raincomprix without stopping. The emotions she had been struggling with the last couple of days had increased in magnitude, mixing and winding together into a symphony of pure agony.

Marinnete collapsing to the ground, transforming back to her civilian self, breathing hard and fighting not to throw up. She lifted her head and looked at Tikki, the overwhelming despair and anguish nearly overwhelming the Kwami. Marinette could do nothing but watch as her entire world crumbled apart. She couldn't be Ladybug anymore.

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The funeral was a huge affair. Adrien had always known that, but standing in the massive crowd of people who had gathered to say farewell to Roger Raincomprix made it all the more real. The man who had laughed with them, fought with them, battled alongside them, stood for truth and justice like he and Ladybug never could, out in the open and vulnerable… was gone.

Tears came to his eyes, but he attempted to force them back. He was standing next to his father, who stood rigid and at attention, similar to the way the policeman lining both sides of the street were doing. A reverend stood at the front of the casket that was set in front of Town Hall. Sabrina stood by her parents, eyes red from crying. Chloe stood nearby, her iconic scowl on her face. Even in a situation like this, Chloe refused to let anybody see she actually had any weakness.

Was he really any better right now, though? He was standing next to his father, cold, distant stranger who had an obsession with refinement and poise. _Poise isn't something one was supposed to have at a funeral, Dad._ Adrien didn't say it aloud, but he did think it. He noticed Marinette's parents standing in the crowd, but Marinette hadn't come, which was for the best… so he wasn't sure why he found himself slightly disappointed.

His attention went back to the casket, and to the ceremony. Friends and family members stepped forward, telling about memories they'd had with the man. One by one, they stepped forward, told their funny stories, their sad stories, their joyful stories. The police officers struggled to keep their poise, but tears ran down their cheeks as they stood at alert.

Adrien found himself unable to control himself, the tears running in waves. The only dry eye was Gabriel Agreste, but he showed more emotion than he was ever known to show in public. Regret and shame were written across his face. Adrien was the only one to notice. As Sabrina stepped up for her turn, there was a stir in the air. All eyes had turned to a girl who was slowly making her way through the crowd. She wore a mask, but the long blue hair and eyes were unmistakably those of Ladybug. She wore a long silk black dress, and had a yoyo at her hip.

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Marinette hadn't been able to transform back into Ladybug. Instead, she had made a quick mask perfectly akin to Ladybug's and then grabbed a yoyo she had painted to look like the one Ladybug always wore. There was no magic guarding her appearance, so it was a bit risky, but as she had told Tikki she needed to be there.

And, despite the pain that was rippling through her at the similarity she had towards Ladybug, she didn't have the magic of the Miraculous coursing through her veins, and found herself able to bear the pain she was currently in. As she stood in front of the crowd of people, forcing herself not to look at the man in the coffin. She had a very strong feeling she wouldn't be able to endure the emotions that _that_ would cause and the ensuing inner conflict would tear her apart from the inside out.

"Ladybug," Mayor Bourgeois was the first one to speak. "I wasn't expecting to see you here today." There was a murmur running through the crowd. "Not saying you wouldn't come, just…" He looked out at the massive audience. "Wasn't expecting you to come as…"

"I had a few words I wanted to say about Roger Raincomprix's death," Marinette replied quietly. "Would you mind if I used your microphone?"

"No, by all means," Mayor Bourgeois motioned to the microphone on the podium, and Marinette stepped up to it. She turned and looked out at the audience. It was like looking into a sea of people. Her mind began to remind her that this was not a safe place to be, that Hawkmoth was probably watching her every move, that this would be the perfect time for an akuma attack, that anybody could be hiding anywh… Now was _not_ the time!

"People of Paris," Marinette began. "I came out today because I needed to let you know the truth. Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix was _not_ the victim of an akuma attack." The murmurs in the crowd began to grow louder, and she was getting more than a few glares. She could guess what they were thinking. Something about how this was not the time to be making political statements, trying to make herself unconnected to this man's death. "His death was a hero's death."

The people fell silent, confusion on their faces. They were all quite clearly bewildered by where she was trying to go with this. She breathed in and spoke. "Hawkmoth wasn't hiding that day." She paused. "He was out on the hunt, and he caught me unprepared." The people were now glancing at each other. The video tape Alya had made had been all over the news. The people knew Ladybug hadn't shown up when she was supposed to, but they had never really been given an explanation.

"I wasn't prepared," she repeated again, the pain evident in her voice. "If Roger Raincomprix hadn't stepped in, I would have been killed. The man saved my life, stopped Hawkmoth from getting his hands on the Miraculous he wants so badly… and Hawkmoth killed him for it." She shook her head.

"It wasn't an akuma that killed Lieutenant Roger Raincomprix. He dared to stand up against Hawkmoth, and Hawkmoth killed him with his own two hands." She stepped up to the coffin, setting her hand on it. She didn't look in tho, opting to put her hand in front of her eyes insead. "We all owe this man our lives."

Marinette felt sick to her stomach, and in the silence following, made her way down from the stadium, and through the crowd. Nobody said a word, too stunned by everything she had just said. She slipped behind a building, where she couldn't be seen, and pulled off her mask. She slumped to the ground, breathing hard. She knew she had probably made things all the worse for Ladybug and Cat Noir, but she didn't care. Roger Raincomprix had saved her life… This was the least she could do to properly say goodbye.

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At long last, the promised funeral chapter has come and gone. I hope you enjoyed all the gloominess of this chapter, as the events of the Petrifier incident continue to wreck havoc on Marinette's, and Adrien's, lives. Also, I apologize in advance for the language but…

This is when shit starts to get real, and it starts to get real fast.

~ Xanatos Stones


	10. Chapter 9: Doom, Gloom, And Death

**Chapter Nine: Doom, Gloom, And Death** (3,465)

Gabriel Agreste frowned as he watched Ladybug, a thought beginning to reach out from his subconscious. Something was up with this costume. He couldn't figure out what, but it wasn't quite right. His son seemed to have noticed it too, leaning forward and appearing to search Ladybug's face for something. Gabriel's phone buzzed in his pocket but he ignored it, intent on listening to every word Ladybug said on stage, intent on reading her emotions via facial cues. His phone buzzed again. And again. And again. And again.

Gabriel fought to keep his composure, while slipping away from the crowd. As soon as he was out of sight, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. His intention had been to turn it off, but it buzzed in his hand as he held it, and the call was from Nathalie. So, with a scowl and a roll of the eyes, he answered the phone. "Nathalie." His anger was evident. "What could _possibly_ be so important it couldn't wait until after the most televised funeral in _years?_ "

"Gabriel," Nathalie said, clearly flustered and unsettled. "Something's happened. I think… I think we might be out of time."

Gabriel Agreste nearly dropped the phone. "Out of time, Nathalie? What could possibly make you think something like that?"

"It's all over the news," The words were faltering. Gabriel could tell that Nathalie was shaking with fear, and it was bothering him. Not because he didn't allow his employees to show their dread, but because Nathalie never did. That was something which had caught his attention the day he'd hired her.

Her face was a facade, and her true emotions were buried deep underneath. He'd always felt a kindred spirit hid under her figurative mask, in the same way that he hid his under a real mask. It was one of the main reasons he'd ended up sharing his secret with her. If she was really this afraid, he knew it had to be serious.

"What's all over the news?" He asked, attempting to remain calm and patient. It simply wouldn't do for him to lose his cool out here. He needed to be the face of solidity. Nathalie, his mission, and the world, demanded this of him.

"An old Chinese man in a Hawaiian shirt was just found murdered by the Seine River," Nathalie replied. Gabriel's eyes widened, and he swallowed silently. "Now… I've never seen any pictures of the Master Fu person you have mentioned on multiple occasions. But if your descriptions of him are anything to go on… it's him."

Gabriel hung up the phone. He put his hands together, breathing in and out slowly. Master Fu was dead. Master Fu was dead. Master Fu was dead. The words bounced around in his head over and over again. He found himself in a cold sweat. _Think, Gabriel. What now?_ Now… Now he needed to take down Ladybug. If he went straight home and akumatized somebody… That wouldn't work.

Something was wrong with Ladybug. What had been on the type of his tongue back when he was watching her speak clicked. The costume she was wearing had been crafted by very artistic hands, to be sure, but it wasn't magic. She'd opted to create her own look-a-like yoyo, and the identical mask, but not use her Miraculous. Her ASD wasn't allowing her to transform.

He chuckled slightly at the irony. He was uncertain what the best way to go about using an akuma to attack a girl like Marinette would be. It would require a very, very specific desire from an akumatized victim, and he was on a bit of a tight schedule. He supposed he was going to have to give Marinette a visit _personally_.

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Adrien Agreste was at the dump. True to his word to Plagg, he had gone their immediately after the end of the funeral. He had a lot on his mind, and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to be bumping into _anybody_ unexpected out here. Things in his life just weren't making sense, and he didn't just mean the whole being a superhero who wasn't really be all that super. There was far more going on than that.

Firstly, there was the whole Ladybug fiasco. He was beginning to understand now why Ladybug had responded the way she had back at Medici Fountain. But the fact that she was so clearly broken, and yet also so _clearly_ not killed by Hawkmoth, meant that the supervillian had chosen not to act on the choice opportunity that he had created. Not only that, but he'd been completely silent for the last three days.

After everything that went down during the Petrifier's attack, he'd been certain that it was only the first part of some master plan by Hawkmoth. Only… he had done _nothing_ since then. It was infuriatingly impossible for him to figure out what the man was thinking. And this unpredictability of his nemesis made him _very_ unsettled.

He'd gone after Ladybug to try and talk to her immediately after the funeral. He hadn't been able to find her. Which led to his second set of questions. Should he try and find a way to protect Ladybug without getting her approval first? He had been wanting to run his questions about his father by Ladybug ever since he'd realized the man could easily be Peacock. The opportunity hadn't come up. And what was with the phone call that had made his father leave the funeral and not return?

And then there was the fact that the Miraculous had been in the safe alongside a picture of his mother and the superhero book that had yet to show itself. And… a ticket to Tibet. That seemed a very slight detail compared to the other things that were on the shelf, but it being on that shelf was still very odd. He had a feeling there was some piece of the puzzle he was missing. He couldn't place what it might be, but there was more going on than just a tug of war with Hawkmoth over a couple Miraculous. Much more.

"You should stop staring at the sky and actually look around," Plagg said, shaking his head at the clearly deep in thought Adrien. "The dump has a lot of cool things. Who knows. You might even find something to make you stop with that gloomy face you been wearing for the last week."

Adrien nodded, and turned his attention to the trash, rummaging through it for anything that might catch his fancy. The dump was large, probably somewhere around one hundred acres in total. It looked like a brand new world, standing on top of the tallest trash area in the middle of the dump and looking in all directions. It a certain manner it was gross.

Adrien was somewhat concerned the scent might stick to his clothing, and the flies buzzing around weren't adding much to the atmosphere. But in another manner, it was rather beautiful. The light catching on the glittering glass, the clothing and other discarded objects spoke of thousands of lives, and millions of experiences. It was actually a bit surreal.

"So," Adrien didn't look at Plagg as he spoke. "I can't help but notice that you never seem worried about anything. Are you _really_ not worried about any of the stuff happening in Paris right now?"

"Adrien," Plagg said with a roll of his eyes. "I've been through over a hundred wars, seen London burned to the ground, watched gladiators fed to lions, and witnessed the Nazi death camps first hand. There isn't much that can phase me anymore."

Adrien paused and glanced back at Plagg, a new curiosity in his eyes. "Then… A different question, and one a bit more personal. How… can you still be… you? I mean, why aren't you scarred like Marinette, and like Ladybug? If you've seen so many horrible things… failed so many times… how do you just keep on going? How can you be that strong?"

Plagg was silent for a moment. "Kid," he said, his serious face from earlier that day returning. "It's like I said before. What you are after is something called unlimited power. You aren't a god, Adrien. I can't turn you into a god. All I can do is give you power to do the best that you can do. Nothing more." His voice turned bitter. "And I get through it by not letting people in. Being unbreakable isn't a strength. Often, it's precisely the opposite."

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The news of the grisly murder of the John Doe spread throughout Paris in a matter of minutes. Shortly after the funeral ended, this new topic was on everybody's lips. The question of what to do about Ladybug and Cat Noir was once again put on the backburner. The news reached the Dupain-Cheng household by way of television.

Marinette had headed home immediately after her speech, taking time to change back into her proper outfit in a nearby gas station before doing so. This turned out to be a good idea, as Cat Noir had flown over her head while searching for Ladybug. She wasn't sure whether or not he'd noticed her, but was nonetheless grateful not to be in her Ladybug attire. She couldn't deal with Cat Noir today, especially not after the speech she'd just given.

She arrived home about fifteen minutes before her parents were expected to arrive, and out of habit, had flipped on the television. The news came out, and Nadja Chamach was on, which caused Marinette to immediately reach for the power button again. She didn't want to hear more talk about how incompetent of a super hero the world was starting to realize she was. She paused however the moment Nadja spoke.

"That's right. There has been another murder in Paris, and this one is _ugly_. As of yet, we have no information connecting this death to Hawkmoth, so it is possible that another dark force is currently at work in our city. The victim, an older Chinese man that as of yet nobody has been able to identify, was killed by what appear to be multiple bullwhip strikes across the entire body.

"It is unsightly to look at, and I have been cautioned to be cautious about showing any images of the victim. I'll simply say this. The red Hawaiin shirt that the man was wearing is now nothing more than shreds." Marinette simply stared at the TV in shock, barely able to comprehend what was being said. It just seemed phony, fake, impossible. It was like something out of a nightmare… stacked on top of all the living nightmares she'd been enduring.

Tikki stared at the television, even as the news report ended and the commercials came on. After several minutes, she broke the silence. "He's back."

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The dump was a far less interesting place than Adrien's studious take on anime had led him to believe. All he was finding was a bunch of… well… to put it simply, trash. Broken cell phones, shattered TVs, unwanted jewelry, and books too waterlogged to be readable. He found dented buckets, rotten food, a small clock that had stopped telling time, and a bunch of fluffy plush toys that the owners probably hadn't been able to get anybody to buy. He also found a bee's nest or two. But absolutely nothing that struck him as the least bit useful, or interesting.

Plagg had long ago stopped searching, and instead opted to sit on the remains of a chair that had been split into many pieces. A couple of them were just the right size for a Kwami. He was currently dozing off. Adrien was about ready to go home himself, when his eyes were drawn to a sparkling green light under a small pile of trash. Reaching in, he pulled out a broken charm.

It looked like it had been fashioned to look like some kind of an animal, but the bracelet was badly broken now, as the charm that was connected to the string was in two different pieces. Adrien pushed the two broken pieces together, and smiled at his little discovery. This bracelet, as he was now realizing it was, actually looked kind cool. "Plagg look at this," Adrien called, "I found a turtle bracelet. You think I could get this fixed?" As he said it, he held up the bracelet.

Plagg turned, not really interested in whatever Adrien was saying, but his emotions changed the moment he saw what Adrien was holding. He quickly launched himself off the tiny seat and flew over to Adrien's shoulder, staring down at the item. He didn't say anything, or attempt to touch it, just stare at it. The tension was thick, and Adrien began to feel a bit apprehensive. "Don't tell me," he said quietly, "This is a Miraculous?"

"Yes…" Plagg said, nodding his head with solemnity. "To be more accurate, it was. Considering how this is now broken, the Kwami it was attached to must be dead."

Adrien's eyes widened. "You mean…" He glanced down at the ring he wore on his finger, the Cat Miraculous that allowed him to transform. "If I were to accidentally break this ring…?" He trailed off.

"Accidental, my foot," Plagg replied with a roll of his eyes. "This aren't cheapy pieces of junk that you get at a gift shop, Adrien. These are _magic_. They can't be _accidentally_ broken. Heck, they can't even be purposefully broken." At that Adrien raised his eyebrows and motioned to the Turtle Miraculous. "Only one thing can destroy a Miraculous, Adrien. An ancient weapon, as old as the Miraculous itself. And as scary as that may be, the demon that wields it… is far, far worse."

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"I don't want to hear what you have to say, Tikki!" Marinette snapped, sitting in her room with her hands buried in her head. Tikki was flying around her head, trying to speak.

"But, Marinette, you have to know what's going on out there!" Tikki replied cautiously.

"No," Marinette said, her face set as she turned to look at Tikki. "No, Tikki. I don't."

She hadn't opened up to Tikki about anything she'd been thinking the last couple of days. Nobody knew the nightmares running around in her head. Nobody knew how often she had them, how recurring they were, pulling her into memories of hell, torture and terror. Nobody knew the pain she felt at not being able to feel anything so often when her parents hugged her. To be able to hold Adrien's hand and feel… numb, to be unable to sit through a single class without beads of sweat and terror running down her face.

Nobody knew how much it hurt to go outside, how terrified she had been during her short walk back to her house, how unnatural the world around her was becoming. Nobody knew how out of place she was, how much of a burden she felt, or the shame at the danger she was placing her friends in. Nobody knew what she had felt turning into Ladybug, and nobody knew how shattered she had become at being rejected by her own mind.

She was a broken down, overrun piece of garbage. She was broken, used, and empty. She was one of those items you held onto only because you remembered what they used to be able to do, because they had memories of the past attached to them. Despite having no future. That was what she had realized, the moment she had been thrown out of the costume.

All of her life, she had wanted to be a fashion designer, to create clothes, patterns, and designs. It was her passion, her goal, her dream. And none of that had changed. But what she had realized when she learned the Miraculous and her mind were no longer compataible, was that being Ladybug was more than that. Being Ladybug wasn't just a job, a desire, a dream, an action. She _was_ Ladybug.

It had become a part of her actual identity, and she had come to believe that she was truly _born_ to for this, that as Tikki had told her the day they met, she was 'the chosen one'. And when the Miraculous had rejected her, she felt like a part of her very being had been torn from her grasp. Like she had been born to be the chosen one, and now that was over. The reason she had been born… was gone. "Tikki," Marinette swallowed as she forced herself to say the words. "I'm not Ladybug anymore."

Tikki blinked. "What are you talking about, Marinette? Of course you are."

"No," Marinette said, shaking her head. "I'm not."

Tikki frowned. "Are you getting cold feet or something? Because, we went through something like this the first day we met. After everything we've gone through together… you want to bail out now?"

"Want?" Marinette shook her head. A part of her wanted to cry. A part of her wanted to scream. A part of her wanted to believe Tikki. And a part of her was numb. Right now, that was the dominant part. And sure, there had been all kinds of troubles while wearing the suit. She'd nearly died on more than one occasion. But she'd also met Cat Noir, saved the world, inspired thousands… or she had for a while at least… and made many good memories. "I don't want to, Tikki. I have to."

"Have to…" Tikki seemed puzzled for a moment. "Oh. You're talking about what happened this morning. Don't worry. I'm sure you'll get better soon, and…"

Marinette shook her head. "You don't know that, Tikki. You can't promise that. And even if you could… Hawkmoth is stronger than ever, and each time he acts, he comes closer and closer to getting my Miraculous. He knows who I am now. He's already basically won. All he has to do is walk into this house, kill my parents, kill me, and take the Miraculous. I can't transform, so I'm completely at his mercy, and he's shown he doesn't mind killing people with his own hands to get what he wants.

"And now… now you tell me some _thing_ has returned to Paris. Some thing that scares you so much you suddenly want to spill all the secrets that I plainly heard you tell Wayzz I was 'not at all' ready for. There isn't time for a _someday_. There might not even be time for a _tomorrow._ Paris needs a Ladybug. Cat Noir needs a partner. And they need one _now!_ And as this morning clearly showed, it's not me."

"I can't really talk you out of this, can I?" Tikki replied quietly. "You're really going to give up on being Ladybug?"

 _That's not the only thing I'm going to be giving up_ , Marinette thought darkly. "It's the right thing to do."

"I don't like this," Tikki replied. "I mean, you are the Chosen One, Marinette. You _are_ Ladybug…"

Marinette sighed, reached up and took the earrings out of her ears. Tikki immediately vanished. "Not anymore," she said, quietly, as she slipped the earrings back into the small case she had originally taken them from. She slid it into her backpack and opened the door to her room. She needed to go borrow a phone and get in touch with Cat Noir. She glanced back at her room, giving it one last look over. "Everything ends tonight," she whispered, the empty feeling the statement gave filling her with more determination. "Tonight, Paris gets a new Ladybug."

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"I've told you many times that there are rules about what a Kwami should, and should not, tell their partner about. One of those things is our past, another is our mission, and another is our abilities. There is a long list, and it grows with each new wearer. Because we believed that some of that information may at times prove necessary, it is all entrusted to the Turtle superhero." Plagg motioned to the charm. "As you can see, he's dead now."

He grimaced. "That means, I'm going to have to bend some of these rules, and tell you personally. I will _not_ give you a lowdown on my life, how the Miraculous was made, or _any_ of my abilities. I do have more than you know at the moment though. You'll just have to figure them out al on your own.

"I will, however, give you small pieces of advice and information when I think you need them. For now, I'll just tell you this. Although he has many names, the villain in question is most often referred to as The Doomsday Demon, and his mystical weapon is a bullwhip."


	11. Chapter 10: The End Of An Era

Nothing lasts forever. One should never assume that it does. And when one searches for the ability to change that, when one dares to believe they have the _authority_ to do so, everything crumbles. For in the end, we are nothing more than feathers, tossed to and fro by the winds of emotion. The quest for revenge, for power, for personal satisfaction… leads to nothing but destruction.

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 **Chapter Ten: The End Of An Era**

He may have been incredibly powerful, but it still would not do to walk around town as Hawkmoth. Secrecy was a part of being a Kwami-superhero, or in this case Kwami-supervillian, and although his presence was known, he preferred to leave the rest of his identity up to the wild imaginations of the Paris civilians.

So, Gabriel simply stood in his tower, hundreds of butterflies swarming around him, watch as Marinette took off her Ladybug earrings and put them into their case. "Where are you going?" he asked, curiously as he stared at the screen. "What are you up to?"

To be honest, he wasn't as at ease at he looked like he was. He stood in the same position he always stood, posture exactly the same with a similar attitude. It was his Hawkmoth act, more a performance than an actual representation of who he was. It was an act for his Kwami more than anything else. He was determined to play the role of a supervillian until the day he could switch his Miraculous to the Ladybug and Cat combined one.

But sitting around at the moment was really hard. His enemy was in the city, and on the hunt. If that dark being found either of the children playing hero before he took their Miraculouses, any hope of bringing down that beast would be gone. If Adèle, as powerful of a superhero as she had been, couldn't bring him down… then nothing short of unlimited power would be able to.

"Gabriel," Nathalie's voice was unmistakable, coming from a small communication device he kept in his pocket. "I hate to bother you when you are working, but Adrien still hasn't come home since the funeral. Yeah, he's got a mind of his own and blows off parts of the schedule I have set for him on rare occasion… but considering you-know-who is in the city, we probably want to keep him on a shorter leash?" It ended more as a question than as a statement.

Gabriel immediately went to tell her that _yes_ , she should be _definitely_ be keeping a closer eye on Adrien, but he stopped himself. Marinette was broken. She'd taken off the Miraculous. She was retiring from being Ladybug. There were only three possible options after that. She was _either_ going to throw it in some random spot and hope somebody picked it up, give it to a friend… which was unlikely, considering she almost certainly knew he was watching her, or… most likely, hand it to Cat Noir.

If that happened… what exactly would be the result? If his son held both pieces at the same time, and gained ultimate power, would that be an acceptable ending? It was rather unlikely Adrien would lose if he did. Which meant Gabriel's goal was complete. He could wash his hands of the matter and let Adrien handle the rest. He didn't really _want_ to entrust this to his son, but at the moment… it really didn't look like there was any reason _not_ to.

Gabriel shifted back into his civilian form, and was surprised to hear a familiar voice. "You know, Master, I never did quite understand what you were doing." Gabriel turned around to face his moth Kwami. It wasn't that Nooroo had _never_ spoken before. He'd spoken several times when they'd first become acquainted with one another. But after Gabriel revealed his plan to steal the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous, the Kwami hadn't spoken again even once. After all, Gabriel had made it quite clear he didn't care about anything Nooroo had to say.

"Explain?"

"Well," Nooroo replied, floating into the air so he was eye-to-eye with Gabriel. "Adrien is your son, right? And you love him, and you want to protect him."

"Correct," Gabriel said, impatience in his voice. "Get to the point, Nooroo."

"Well… Why didn't you just tell him who you were the moment you found out who he was? Explain why you needed the Miraculous, and see if Ladybug and Cat Noir would be agree with it? Why did you tune _up_ your attacks, instead of tuning them down?"

Gabriel scowled. "It's not that I didn't _want_ to tune them down. But it's like you said, I would need to 'see if Ladybug and Cat Noir would agree'. If they didn't, either because I'd already attacked the city dozens upon dozens of times, or because they thought they could handle the situation, or even simply because they didn't want to stop being superheroes, then my plan would fall flat. I wouldn't be able to complete it anymore."

Nooroo nodded. "So one of them is retiring is all you ever really needed, huh?"

"I would never trust a stranger with my son's life. Trusting him with his own life, when he has the power to protect himself, is something else entirely. I'm alright with that." He turned to leave again.

"You are, huh?" Nooroo called after him. "So are you retiring as Hawkmoth, then?"

Gabriel paused, looking down at his Miraculous. Then he turned around and glanced back at Nooroo. "Yes, I suppose I am. Why? Are you going to tell me to give my Miraculous to somebody else? Like who, Master Fu? He's dead, if you haven't heard." He never had any patience for the little bug, and that was evident in the tone of his voice. After all, Nooroo's role in Gabriel's life had never been anything more than a pawn.

"Not exactly," Nooroo replied. "I am more curious whether you are willing to open your ears and actually _listen_ to why getting your hands on those two Miraculous wouldn't be quite as wonderful of a thing as you have always acted like it was. I've tried to tell you before, but you never let me get past 'You probably shouldn't…'" He stared right back into Gabriel's eyes, challengingly.

Gabriel opened his mouth to send forth a retort, but then stopped. "I can give you a moment to explain yourself I suppose. I mean, you're going to be sleeping in your Miraculous for a _very_ long time, and I've got nothing but time right now. So…" He shrugged. "I might as well let you get it off your chest. Please, Nooroo. Enlighten me. Why _shouldn't_ Adrien gain unlimited power?"

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"Really?" Adrien said, arms crossed as he glared at Plagg. "That's _all_ you are going to tell me?"

Plagg had reverted back to his irreverent, lazy, nonchalant self and was sitting back on the chunk of chair he'd been resting on earlier, sucking some Camembert that Adrien had tried, unsuccessfully, to bribe him with. "Yup. Ain't gonna change no matter how many times you ask, order, or bribe."

"There is a demon loose in Paris, and you know everything there is to know about him, but all you want to tell me is his name and his weapon."

"Oh," Plagg tilted his head, as if Adrien had just said something strange. "The Doomsday Demon isn't loose in Paris, Adrien. Just his weapon is." He then promptly went back to eating his cheese.

"How could you possibly know that?!" Adrien growled in exasperation. Plagg didn't even look up from his cheese. So, Adrien sighed and plopped down onto the ground next to Plagg. This little back and forth had been going on for nearly half an hour, and Adrien hadn't gotten anywhere. "So… this is just going to be another one of those things on that huge pile of mysteries that keeps piling up and is _already_ so high that I went out to a _dump_ , just to get some alone time to think. Is that it?"

"Sorry pal," Plagg replied, not sounding the slightest bit sorry. "It's better if you just accept it. Unless you can find somebody else who knows their stuff and is willing to talk, you'll just have to find out on your own."

Adrien found he could _not_ sit quietly and stood back to his feet, beginning to pace. "I don't get it. If I am supposed to fight this monster… weapon… then _why_ are you so adamant about keeping your secrets? Don't you think me knowing that stuff would come in _handy?!_ You are _Plagg_. You don't _care_ about rules. You _never_ get hung up on what's proper. So _why_ are you so adamant about this?!"

"Seira and Kana, that's why," Plagg spit out bitterly. He shot Adrien a furious glare. "Now shut up and leave it alone." Adrien didn't even know how to respond to that. He had _never_ seen that level of emotion come from Plagg before, and he was literally speechless. Silence hung in the air for several minutes. "Sorry," Adrien said at last, not looking at Plagg. "That was… uncool of me. It's time to go home. Plagg, claws out." Adrien shifted into Cat Noir, and immediately had his stick buzz.

"Uh, hello?" Cat Noir asked. There was no picture on the other end of his stick, but there was also only one person he knew of who could contact it; Ladybug. "Bugaboo? You ok?"

"We need to meet, Cat Noir, and it needs to be somewhere that we won't be interrupted."

Adrien blinked, taken aback by the resignation in her voice. "Uh… Ok, sure. Want to meet at Medici Fountain again?"

"No!" Ladybug's response was too quick, too frantic. She attempted to cover it up with a calm, "No. I'm thinking of somewhere else." But it was too late to hide the fact that she was clearly still traumatized by their conversation that day. "Somewhere… glorious."

Cat Noir tilted his head, more puzzled than ever. "So… let's get this straight. You want to go somewhere secret, somewhere private, somewhere we are unlikely to be interrupted, and…you want the place to be glorious. Bugaboo… what exactly is this secret rendezvous about?"

"Don't get any ideas," Ladybug replied, but she sounded more exhausted than annoyed. He was also somewhat surprised that she hadn't shot back with any of her trademark retorts. He kept forgetting that this world was broken, that he had failed to save it, and that there was no rewinding. He wanted to go back to the old interactions of playful banter, the days when his biggest worry was how to tell Ladybug he loved her.

He had always disliked Hawkmoth, always _wanted_ to capture the guy. But as listened to the pain in Ladybug's voice, thought of Marinette struggling through school, and remembered Ladybug's speech earlier that day, exhausted and troubled, hurt and broken… Adrien's dislike grew to loathing.

At that moment, he realized that he didn't want to capture Hawkmoth. He didn't want to lock the guy up to live a long slow life rotting in prison. He wanted that man dead, and he wanted to make it happen with his own two hands. "Where do you want to meet, Ladybug?"

"I'm thinking… that currently unused mall on the outskirts of town. The one with four overarching floors and a glass ceiling."

"Galleries… Lafeyette. I suppose it would be private, and it is glorious, but I find it hard to believe we wouldn't be interrupted there."

"We won't be there that long." Ladybug replied. "I just… I just need to get this over with. Meet me there at midnight, fourth floor balcony." Then she hung up.

Cat Noir stared at the screen on his pole, muttering to himself. "Well, that was ominous."

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Marinette made her way through the darkened city, still wearing her silk black dress. The world had gotten mostly quiet. The people of Paris were asleep, most likely tossing to and fro in their beds, likely dreaming of the day Hawkmoth came for their lives. Or the day that Cat Noir and Ladybug revealed themselves to be more trouble than they were worth. At least, that's what Marinette thought, bitterly. All the world was peaceful, but Marinette was not.

Walking through a city late at night alone as a teenage girl was not wise. It was dangerous, to say the least. To say the most, it was just plain stupidity. And for a girl as messed up as Marinette, it was nothing short of horrifying. Every sound made her jump and grab for the yoyo at her waist. She wasn't sure she could use it like Ladybug's magical one, but she was more than willing to try.

Every shadow hid a demon, reaching out for her soul. Every footstep meant she was being followed. Hawkmoth was nowhere, and everywhere at once. The mysterious man who had murdered Master Fu was waiting around every corner, readying to take her down in a brutal attack. Her hallucinations were growing more intense, and images from her recurring nightmares kept flashing in front of her eyes.

She was scared out of her mind. She shouldn't be there. She wasn't twirling across rooftops looking for people to save. She _was_ the person who would have needed saving. More than once, as she ran, she tripped, skidded her legs on the ground, and received scrapes and bruises. She hurried without looking back, as if the shadows she had left behind her were one massive beast she was fleeing from.

Yet, there was that unearthly calm. The numbness that sucked at her soul. The constant back and forth of numbness and fear, the unending current that pulled her under until she thought she would drown, only be to pulled back up struggling and gasping for air, panicked and screaming for help, before being dragged back under again. Over and over, nightmares and horror and terror and despair. Overwhelming despair.

And in her hands, the object that gave her life meaning. It was the reason she had woken up every day for the last year, a mission so astounding that she had tried to turn it down, a legacy of heroes and battles and victories, a Chosen One to bring hope and joy to the world. She knew she had been born for this. She knew that this was her reason for existing, and now… as a broken shell, with a haunted soul and a shattered spirit, she was passing on that baton to somebody else. The one emotion she was currently feeling was determination.

Approaching a building close to Galleries Lafayette, Marinette used a ladder hanging on the side of a building to scale to the top. Praying she didn't fall, Marinette backed up, ran, and leapt across to Gallieries Lafayette's roof. Using a pin she had brought to unlock a window, she dropped down to the floor.

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Adrian swung his pole through the air, landing atop the old mall and slipping through the glass to land on the floor below. It was dark, but he could see plainly. He was a cat, after all. The 'shop' he was in had barrens shelves lining all sides, and a few aisles that were empty as well. The shop brought back memories. He had come here many times before with his parents… the last time being only a week before his mother's disappearance two years ago.

To be honest, it felt like much more time had passed than that. It felt like a different life, a previous reincarnation. The place had been full of toys at the time; plushies, action figures, dolls, board games, and video games. It also had a number of limited edition cartoon show seasons that he had wanted to add to his collection. Everything in the store was expensive, clearly designed for high-end families. Now, like at home, there was nothing for him here.

He made his way out of the store and stopped at the balcony. The store was a giant circle, each floor going out further than the ones below it, while leaving less of the center area covered. The place had always reminded Adrain of a cathedral, with the archways and pillars that made up each balcony area.

Murals filled the area around the massive glass circle that made up the top of the building, and the shields of many powerful French families were painted at the top of the pillars that held the building together. Even the shopping stalls on the floor of the mall were high-end. This mall had been a wonder to behold in its heyday, and even after it had been emptied of all vendors for months, it was still a dazzling sight.

As he stood there, staring down at the site, Cat Noir heard the familiar footsteps of Ladybug approaching. "My Lady," Cat Noir bowed as he turned in her direction. Perhaps it was an improper way to greet her, considering how serious it appeared this rendezvous was, but as depressed as he was, he was determined not to lose his good charm. He motioned out to the breathtaking view behind them, hands spread wide. "Is this not glorious?"

"Very," Ladybug replied, impatiently. "Look… Cat Noir… I asked you to come today because I wanted to say goodbye."

Cat Noir blinked, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief. His brain was frazzled, shaken, torn apart and put back together. His subconscious may have been turned off for all the good it did him. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. This… this had to be a nightmare.

"Yeah," Ladybug repeated, shaking her head sadly. "I'm calling it quits. I just wanted to give you this." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small case that Adrien knew quite well. His ring had come in one that looked almost identical. It was also at this moment that he realized something he'd been a bit too preoccupied to notice at first. She was still wearing the silk dress from the funeral. Right now, Ladybug wasn't in her Ladybug form.

Cat Noir didn't react, simply staring at the box. Ladybug was staring at him expectantly, but there was no way he was going to do what she wanted him to do. "What… are you talking about? You can't quit!?" She… she couldn't quit. He was the sidekick, the hero wannabe, the incompetent jokester… He was the Ron Stoppable to her Kim Possible. Kim didn't just _quit_ and leave Ron all of her gear!?

Ladybug frowned. "You know what's in here, right? If my _Kwami_ couldn't talk me out of this… why do you think you can?"

Cat Noir fought to keep back the tears threatening to flow from his eyes. Ladybug… _his_ Ladybug was leaving? They were supposed to have a long life together, fighting side-by-side. They'd bring down Hawkmoth, and be symbols of hope and peace. When he was older and wiser, he would tell her how much he loved her. They would spend a long action-packed life together. She couldn't just bow out. "Why…?" It wasn't angry or demanding, frustrated or curious… The way word came out could only be described in one word – forlorn.

Ladybug lowered her head. "I'm sorry, Cat Noir. I really am. It's just… I can't keep this up anymore. I can't keep up the pretending, the fighting, the… losing battles." She looked him in the eyes. "I learned… I can't win. So I'm done fighting." She set the box down at his feet. "I'm sorry, Cat Noir. But it's over." She turned to leave, and the way she looked as she began to walk away filled Cat Noir with dread.

"At least… At least tell me who you really are," Cat Noir pleaded, his hand reaching out towards the woman he loved. "Don't just… disappear."

Ladybug didn't even look behind her as she disappeared back into the shadows. She did, however, say one parting phrase. "I'm sorry. It's better if you don't know."

For a few minutes, Cat Noir simply stood there, staring at Ladybug was gone. He didn't really know why, or what had made her decide to leave, but he was going to have to accept it. She trusted him to find the right person to give her Miraculous to. He knew he needed to get right on that, but… he found it hard to move.

He looked up at the night sky, the brilliant night sky shining down through the clear glass ceiling. It was beautiful and breathtaking. "I want the place to be glorious." She had said, and he finally understood. She had wanted her last moment as Ladybug to be beautiful. Nodding, he reached down and picked up the small box that Ladybug had left lying there. He slowly opened it up and looked at the Ladybug earrings. He slowly reached for them…

"Whatever you do, do not touch those earrings." Of all the ways that Adrien had expected to meet Hawkmoth, this was not one of them. He simply stood there, on the staircase that led up to where Cat Noir was standing.

Cat Noir paused and turned to look at his archenemy, the one responsible for all of the pain he'd gone through over the last few days; the death of a friend, the mental scarring of another, and now tipped off with the retirement of Ladybug. This man had ruined _everything_ special that Adrien had. And now he was yelling out orders as if he expected Cat Noir to simply obey.

"How about we start by you stopping your approach," Cat Noir said coolly, and Hawkmoth instantly stopped. "Very good. Now, give me one reason I should trust anything that comes out of your mouth."

"If you put those earrings and that ring together…"

"I don't care _what_ you say your reason is unless you are willing to tell me _why_ I should believe a single word you say." Cat Noir glared back, the abhorrence evident in his eyes, the way he moved his hands, the very way he held himself. His entire body was pulsing with hatred.

"You killed one of my friends, and you shattered the spirit of two others. There is nothing you could do to make me trust you… and I don't care who you are, someway or another, I'm going to make you pay for it." He reached his hand out and picked up the earrings. As he did so his ring and the earrings connected, and both started to glow.

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Plagg's warning fall on deaf ears, and the world begins to crumble.

~ Xanatos Stones


	12. Chapter 11: The Seal Is Broken

At long last, the story continues. At long last, that moment you've all been waiting for. The chaos intensifies as…

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 **Chapter Eleven: The Seal Is Broken**

It was over. Marinette had finished the last thing she needed to do before ending it all. Her mind drifted to her room, to all the pictures of Adrien she had lining the walls, to the couch where Adrien and her friends had spent so much time trying to help her recover. She thought about her parents, about their unconditional love, and the sacrifices they kept making for her. And she thought of Adrien, the boy she had loved, and who was behaving like a perfect gentleman.

And all of it… just made her feel worse, made her feel more empty inside. All the warm memories felt like weakened embers, fading away one by one, until nothing but smoke and darkness were left. She felt separate, like a wall were separating her from them. She didn't deserve their kindness. She didn't deserve their friendship. All the messes in Paris right now were _her_ fault.

When she thought about how kind the people in her life were being to her, it simply reminded her of what a wretched creature she was. They didn't understand that she had turned them all into targets. That Hawkmoth would be on the warpath, and would trample over them to get to her. And even if they did… they wouldn't move. And that was the worst part. The image of the River Styx, and everybody she cared about floating being carried away by it.

But… if she were truly being honest… the biggest motivators were selfish ones. The didn't feel like she belonged here. How nothing she did, nowhere she walked, even when she was at school or locked in her room… she felt scared, uncertain, unsafe. The fact that she hadn't felt a single moment of joy since Roger's death. The fact that positive emotions seemed to be avoiding her like a plague.

The fact that the world around her felt more like a nightmare than reality, and no matter how much she wanted to wake up, she couldn't. Ladybug had abandoned her, and Tikki was now out of reach. This was apparently how her destiny as 'The Chosen One' ended. She couldn't shake the nightmares that plagued her mind over and over again every day. Couldn't stop the mental breakdowns. She'd lost control of her own body. She couldn't even function properly in society or go to school.

It all weighed down on her, like a pile of bricks determined to pull her under. And she couldn't keep fighting the weight. People said it would get better… but they'd never had to endure what she had. They hadn't lost their identity, their destiny, their own mind. She didn't even feel connected to her body anymore… It was as if somebody else had taken over her mind, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't wrestle control away from them. But she could end it.

All she wanted now was peace… silence… Escape from the fear that hounded her constantly… from the negative emotions that seemed to be the only things she could feel anymore… from the oppressive reality she found herself in… from the shame of knowing she was going to get those she loved killed… Her life had become a constant oppressive barrage of pain and anguish. And all she wanted now… was for that to stop. And that was one of the few things she could control.

Ahead of her, one of the bridges overlooking the Siene River came into view. She walked towards it, and the dark emotions inside of her began to squirm about frantically. It reminded Marinette of what happened when you lifted a log and bright sunlight shone on a pile of grubs. Swallowing, she stepped out onto the bridge.

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The moment the ring and the earrings connected, it was as if the sky started to roar. Despite being inside, a massive wind swept up, blowing his hair straight back. Adrien couldn't really put what he was thinking into words. The world had turned on its head. Physics seemed to have been thrown out of whack, and something else had taken control. His eyes darted to Hawkmoth, watching the man grip tightly to the railing of the stairs and make his way slowly towards him.

Then lightning began to strike, loud booming flashes of light that didn't appear to be striking the ground anywhere came in rapid succession. Although he had never been in one before, he'd heard descriptions, and what he saw raging around him could only be described as if as a monstrous hurricane. It was ethereal, and he found himself more confused than terrified, as if his mind hadn't yet decided whether what was going on around him was actually happening or just some whacked out daydream.

Adrien darted down to the ring, which was now sitting in the box that had been holding the earrings. The ring had fused with the earrings, and become a slightly larger, circular black ring with red spots on it. Adrien also noticed that he was no longer in his Cat Noir form. Fighting to keep from being blown backwards, he glanced once more in the direction of his enemy. The man knew who he was now. But that really wasn't anywhere near the top of his list of immediate concerns.

"What have you two idiots done?!" The voice spilt through the air and both Hawkmoth and Adrien turned to see a Kwami unlike any they had ever seen before. It was black with red spots, and had both whiskers and ladybug wings. It had its arms crossed and was looking _very_ displeased with them. It also had a cat tail that darted back and forth angrily. Ladybug and Cat Noir had fused.

Any other time, Adrien would have gaped at them. Instead, he yelled over the raging wind, "I… have no… idea!" Then… in the flashes cause by the lightning and darkness immediately thereafter, interchanging every couple seconds, he began to see a figure slowly materializing in front of them. And the unearthly appearance of the catbug Kwami had nothing on this new being, which was far weirder… and at the same time… terror-inducing.

It stood at about six foot tall, with skin as dark as night, and red lines running up and down it. His hair was wild and furry, a mixture of web and fur, unsettling and unnatural. His hands were thin and bony… but they still held an aura of strength. His limbs moved more like a spider than a human, and the stance he held was clearly predatorial. He didn't even have to turn around for Adrien to know that what stood in front of him wasn't human. It was a demon.

"Get behind me," the catbug Kwami yelled, their words snapping Adrien from his thoughts. He wasn't sure what good hiding behind a Kwami would do, and went to slip the ring onto his finger. " _Don't you dare?!"_ the catbug Kwami growled fiercely. For a moment, Adrien considered ignoring the Kwami. Ultimate power would _really_ help right now. That was when it hit him.

This was the reason. Adrien's eyes widened as he stared at the monster. This was the reason Plagg had warned him about the danger of an obsession with strength. It would lead to this… cataclysm. No wonder Plagg hadn't been concerned with The Doomsday Demon roaming the earth. They had sealed him away. And his mindless drive for power… had released him. He'd ignored Plagg's warning, caused this mess, and was now planning on doing the exact same thing again.

Instead, he closed the box and stepped behind the Kwami. Hawkmoth was already waiting there. "Adrien, we are _so_ going to discuss this later," the Kwami scolded.

"Don't bet on that," the demon said, in a whispery, silky, seductive, inhuman voice. Then, it turned around to face them. Two red eyes that lacked pupils shone from its face, and ink black symbols adorned its cheeks. This part of the face was white, which simply felt wrong compared to how black the rest of its body was, but it merely added to the terror that Adrien was struggling with.

The demon wore a cape that blew ferociously in the wind, and he was dressed like a nobleman from the middle ages, a shirt of expensive chain mail, fancy boots, and black gloves. "You may have trapped us once before, but you don't have the others with you anymore. You can't win." The Kwami growled in frustration, and launched a powerful destructive force that resembled Cat Noir's Cataclysm. It merely went straight through the not-yet-fully-materialized monster.

Adrien's eyes darted between the seriously over-powered Kwami, and the demon that appeared to be teleporting out of some dark dimension. As the reality of their situation finally sunk in, he understand why the demon had been given the name he had. The only thing that had stood between this demon and Doomsday was a seal that he himself had just broken.

The Doomsday Demon smiled at the Kwami and said, "You seem to have forgotten just how utterly out of your league you are." His smile was eerie. The monster's feet touched the ground, fully materialized in this reality. For half a second, the wind was gone, as was the thunder. After that half-second, Galleries Lafeyette exploded.

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Marinette's stared down into at the river raging below her, a hungry monster beckoning to her. As she stood there, Marinette found herself wondering what the Sirens had said to those poor sailors who drowned trying to reach them. What kind of thoughts did they send to the sailors to drive them to leap into the watery grave? A slight wind picked up, and flashes of lightning drew her attention away from the water and towards Galleries Lafeyette.

A storm cloud had gathered around the building, obscuring it from view. It looked a little bit like a mini-hurricane. But Cat Noir would be alright. He had Tikki with him now, and whatever Kwami he himself had. Besides, it seemed far off… distant… like something out of a storybook. It wasn't real.

Nothing was real. Her story was done. This was the last page of her tragedy. And like in so many stories, she was halting right before the end of the last page. The world slowed down, and everything felt out of touch. She didn't need to jump. All she had to do was take one more step forward. And that was exactly what she did. One foot moving slowly forward, and the other following…

Freedom. Escape. Serenity. Every feeling that had been hiding from her since that tragic day wrapped it's loving arms around her as she left the side of the bridge. As her feet left the bridge, it was as if the lighting and the wind had ceased. As if all the world was still, waiting for her plunge.

The next moment, there was a massive explosion, so fierce and so hot that it threw Marinette forcefully away from the bridge, spinning. Out of the corner of her eye, as she spun, she saw the flaming remains of Galleries Lafeyette and something inside of her snapped. She hit the water, spinning and spiraling, but very much still alive. Her body ached, and her sides screamed at her.

The water coaxingly offered relief, offered a silent and watery grave, offered a place to sleep forever away from all the dangers and horrific truths the world heard. But Marinette was no longer listening. She had slipped into more of an autopilot mode, fighting the darkness around her and attempting to make it back to the surface. But the darkness and the spinning had completely robbed her of any sense of direction. She had no idea which direction was up.

Struggling in the darkness, Marinette came to a realization. She didn't know which way was up, but squirming indecisively wouldn't get her out of this predicament. If she didn't pick a direction, she would die. If she did, three-out-of-four, she would die. She was almost out of breath. She closed her eyes and began to swim.

Marinette didn't know which direction she was headed, or… the sound of a boat horn burst through the darkness, and Marinette's sense of direction immediately corrected itself. The direction she had picked was apparently down. So… using the last of her air, Marinette struggled upward and split through the top of water mere seconds before her lungs gave in on themselves. Her body aching, Marinette struggled out of the water.

She didn't have much strength left in her body, but the adrenaline racing through her head driving out all other thoughts wouldn't let her rest. Slowly, weak and stumbling, she headed off towards the burned rubble of Galleries Lafeyette. As she made her way, the horror of what she had just seen began to soak through her adrenaline.

Cat Noir had been in that building. She was almost positive of it. She couldn't figure out what possibly could have happened, and he'd definitely had time to get out before the freak storm. She'd had enough time to get to the bridge, after all. But she couldn't shake the feeling in her gut that he hadn't been able to get out in time. As she approached the building, the dust was still settling, and pieces of building were still burning. Rubble was everywhere.

As she stood there, staring at the wreckage, uncertain how to react now that she had arrived at the scene, a large portion of rubble in front of her crumbled, and a demon stood behind it, holding its hand out. He had extended a thin but clearly _nigh-invincible_ web similar to her yoyo… formerly hers, to be honest. It had connected to various portions of the rock and shoved it in open itself, forcing it to crumble away.

The being… looked half-spider, half-human… a spiderman. Only… this wasn't your friendly neighborhood spiderman. It looked far more demonesque, as if he had been zapped by some kind of turn your childhood heroes into monsters designed to traumatize you. "Who are you?" she whispered, the hostility in her voice clearly evident.

"People have called us by all sorts of names," The silky-voiced demon replied. "But the one that has stuck the longest is the Doomsday Demon." He looked at her, and Marinette felt quite clearly that she was being read. "Oh… Poor former Ladybug," he said with a shake of his head, and a clearly insincere look of pity. "Were those three your friends?"

Considering how she was no longer wearing her Ladybug outfit, having thrown it in a dumpster on the way to the bridge, it was rather unsettling that he could tell who she was just by looking at her. More unsettling was the word that Marinette did not miss. 'were'. "What did you do?!" She hissed, teeth clenched.

"Uh…" The Doomsday Demon replied, raising an eyebrow. "Obviously…they blew up."

"You're lying!" Marinette hissed, though the likelihood of that was pretty small.

The Doomsday Demon just laughed in response. "Really?" He kicked something across the rubble, and it landed at Marinette's feet. It was worn and tattered, burned and blackened, but she could still tell what it had once been. A sewn blue scarf, and not just any torn blue scarf. It was the one she had given Adrien on his birthday a year before.

She stared at it blankly for a moment, unable to comprehend how that had ended up in Galleries Lafeyette. But then it dawned on her, the only conceivable explanation. Cat Noir was Adrien Agreste. Which meant… She couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. All this time… all these adventures… everything they'd been through.

The boy she loved… was the one who had been flirting with her all this time. Her knight, her protector, her confidant… was also the boy she loved despite everything. And now, staring at the scarf that she had made for Adrien… it was too late. A part of her beckoned her towards the bridge. She'd failed once… but… if she just… she could just… and then… peace… serenity… escape… No.

Marinette's eyes darkened and she locked eyes with The Doomsday Demon. Why, oh why hadn't she listened to Tikki earlier that day? Why had she left Cat Noir all alone? Why had she been acting like such a victim for the last several days? Right now, the guilt wasn't overwhelming her, it was angering her. The same selfishness that had resulted in Roger's death had now robbed the world of Adrien, Tikki, and Adrien's Kwami.

She may not be a super hero anymore, and the nightmares weren't likely to go away any time soon. She may not even be able to be Ladybug were she to try now. But none of that mattered. She was Marinette, and she was a hero of Paris. She was done playing the victim. "I won't let you leave here alive. I won't let you harm the people of Paris."

The Doomsday Demon shook his head, looking quite bemused. "Really? You? A former Ladybug? What are you going to do, hit me with your soft squishy hands?"

Marinette growled, lifted a piece of a cement pillar off of the ground, and swung it at him. The Doomsday Demon didn't even bother to move his feet. He simply lifted his hand and caught the pillar with the palm of his hand. Even though his hand was open, Marinette couldn't pull the cement pillar away from him. So, she promptly kicked a small cement piece of rubble at The Doomsday Demon. This he simply knocked aside with his other hand.

Then, releasing his hand on the cement pillar, The Doomsday Demon stepped towards Marinette. She didn't back up, instead opting to grab a metal pipe off of the ground and hold it up defensively. "This is rather enjoyable." The Doomsday Demon said, smiling with a condensing glow of delight. "Reminds me of the good 'ol days. The weak and frail human attempting to stop my inevitable conquest.

"Bring your magic, your guns, and your dragons. Bring your tanks, your missiles and your superheroes. Bring whatever you wish, whenever you wish, however you wish. I'll destroy it all." He sounded like a conqueror out of one of the many history books that Marinette had studied. A being who thought he was invincible, and thought it his destination to take over the world. The only difference here was that this demon could very easily _not_ be delusional.

Marinette knew she was out of her league, but she also knew this was one fight that she couldn't run away from. So she charged forward, swinging the metal pipe with a battle cry. In response, the Doomsday Demon backhanded Marinette and sent her spiraling into a pile of rubble, which promptly toppled on top of her. She could no longer move.

"Little Ladybug," she could hear the Doomsday Demon walking around the rubble looking for her. "Come out. Come out. We have more playing to do." It felt like a scene out of a horror movie. She could hear him tossing rubble around effortlessly, digging around for her. She was fairly confident he could have squashed her effortlessly in her ladybug form. Once he found her, she was going to die.

And she found… that she didn't want to. As terrible as everything was around her, as horrifying as it was to learn that Adrien was gone, something had changed inside of her. She'd said no. Despite the overwhelming fear, the stress, the nightmares, the pain that ripped through her body, and the beckoning of the river to take the easy way out… she'd said no. Which meant, when it really came down to it. She truly _was_ able to take control.

She'd lost control, and it would be a fight to get it subjugated again. But it was a fight that, for the first time, she felt she could win. Like with her realization about Adrien, however, it was rather sickening to realize this when it was too late to do anything about it. The footsteps stopped above her, and she could feel the smile creeping up his face. "Found you."

In the haze, in the terror, in the regret, Marinette had missed it. And apparently The Doomsday Demon had as well. Because the sound of sirens was very close now. "I don't have time to deal with you right now." The voice was no longer above her, called out from a distance.

"I have a quest I have to complete before I can begin my campaign. Hopefully, by then, you'll be more of a fight. Slaughtering weaklings is fun, but having a worthy opponent… so much more so. See you later, former Ladybug." As his voice faded from her hearing, the pain and fatigue that had been being held back by sheer adrenaline swept over her, and her consciousness slowly ebbed away.

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A sad day… a depressing day… a day of mourning and fear and loss… but also a day of liberation, and Marinette decides she may be a terrible hero, an incompetent hero, and a fool of a hero. She may make mistakes and cause problems… but in the end, none of that matters. She will do her best, and if that costs her her life… so be it. Hope you enjoyed.

~ Xanatos Stones


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